The Godfather
Uploaded by tiffxxtiff on Jul 24, 2007
The Godfather: A Utopia
"Don't judge a book by its cover." There are many interesting books with attractive covers, but the quote still rings true for books such as The Godfather by Mario Puzo. One the covers for The Godfather has a black background with large white bold-type. A few of the smaller words are typed in a red font. The only illustration is of a hand controlling the a few letters in the word "Godfather" as the Godfather controls his people through violence. Although the book is riddled with violence and the cover is extremely dull, the novel is so appealing because it uncovers the corrupt government, shows loyalty to family, and represents the American dream.
While many people are living in poverty, others are living in mansions; on many occasions, this is due to people who are corrupt. Many people enjoy knowing the truth even though sometimes, the government denies it. In the novel, Puzo confronts how officials are easily influenced, but are ultimately punished. Amerigo Bonasera's daughter was mutilated by two young men and needed to wire her jaw together. Even though the young men had committed a terrible crime, they were allowed to walk free. The reason the men were set free was that "one of them is the son of a powerful politician" (32). The ruling was an unfair one, but the Corleone family works on a code of ethics that is more suitable than society's code. The Corleone family took revenge for Bonasera's daughter and made her attackers "pulps of human beings" (66). Even though the justice system did not give a fair verdict to the Bonasera family, the Corleone family took revenge for them and did to the two men what they did to the young girl. Another example of corruption in the government is the police captain of New York being bribed. "When Sollozzo had approached him with the proposition to leave the old man Corleone uncovered…. He asked the price. When Sollozzo said ten grand…. He did not hesitate" (140). By accepting the bribe to take away the Don's protection, McCluskey knowingly let Don Corleone die. Anybody can be convinced to do anything with the correct bribe. But the Corleone family could not tolerate corruption and betrayal of the government, so McCluskey and Sollozzo were punished with death.
Intense loyalty is a trait that is greatly valued, but is not a common trait...