Michael Corleone example essay topic

The Godfather written by Mario Puzo, published by the Penguin Group in 1969,433 pages long. This books is a crime / gangster novel. The setting takes place in New York in the 1940's then moves to Long Beach in the late 50's. The Protagonists of The Godfather is Michael Corleone.

He has many various contradicting characteristics in this book. Primarily Michael shows through as a born leader, when he was a fearless, young man, he went off to war, even though his father disapproved, he came back proudly with a medal. Shortly following his arrival home his oldest brother Santi no was brutally murdered, so he was faced with the dilemma of being hired to the position of the Godfather. Michael guided the family from near destruction, to achieve his family the ranking of one of the most powerful families in the world. At the same time he accomplished to successfully raise a family, consisting of the son he desired for so long and a stunningly gorgeous girl. Michael kept his familys crime rate considerably low, for his type of business, yet he still got everything he wanted and acquired the title of being one of the richest most powerful man in the world.

Another exalted characteristic in Michael is he is exceptionally generous, he makes sure the whole Corleone familys housing and jobs are taken care of, so they dont have to worry. Michael is always donating considerable amounts to charities and when ever a friend asks for a favor it is very rarely refused, no matter what it is. (220) Michaels main problem in the beginning of the book is that he never wants to be caught up in The family Olive Oil business because he believes that his girlfriend Kay would hate him and his family. Michael is realistically forced to be the Don because his father is getting too old, Sonny was murdered, and Fre do isn very intelligent. Michael overcomes his dread of being the Godfather when he finds out of Kays acceptance towards him. (77) The antagonist is the sinister Ta talia family, their problem is they are competing for conjoint territory in New York.

They have to resort to the dirty businesses of drugs and prostitution to attempt to overthrow the Corleones. They anticipate it will be all the easier to conquer the Corleones because they arranged for the order of Vito's death but they are in for a shock when Michael takes over. (69) They conflict is person vs. society on account of most people despite the techniques and customs of the Italian Mafia. Each and every Mafia family has to over run numerous obstacles to run their families, like police and politics. All the high families manage to weave through these minor details with comfort.

(52) A powerful point that comes across is, there are many logical laws of the Mafia to keep your family running effectively, such as the Omerta which is considered to be the most utterly important law. It is the code of silence. This law is demonstrated many times through out the book. The part in the book where the Don shows his loyalty to the Omerta, is when he sacrifices his own peace to let the murderers of his son go and not seek any revenge on them.

All the women in the family show their devotion to the Omerta by not turning their husbands, brothers, or cousins in when they know they are doing some wrong but just take no note of it. (123) In my opinion this book is best suited for people who do not mind when a book goes into a lot of detail and has some graphic scans. This book is aimed at people who are interested in learning more about the strict Italian ways and also a lot about how a Mafia is handled and taken care of in an orderly, old fashioned, Italian way. This book is definatly the best book I have ever read and I advise anyone who is up for reading an excellent book to read it. (92).