Don Corleone is a thug, a brutal bloody murderer, a power-hungry monster. Sure, he is smooth, slick and seductive. But he is not fooling me. He is like an embodiment of Satan trying to convince me that evil is in my interest.
Don Corleone is a criminal whose sole focus was wealth and power. Although he was a family man and did favors for many people that needed him, he believed in fixing problems by killing and threatening people. He did not know how to solve problems without violence and crime.In order to gain respect, he had to make others fear him.
I never think it was his goal to make other fear him. It seems more that he wants people to like him he wants everyone to get along. But people fear easily and his power which blossomed out of service to his community instills fear in the upper class people who fear for their status and way of life. I don't one hundred percent agree with myself but the Don's character is very two sided.
If you look at the Don from our point of view this statement is true. But if you are looking at the Don form the families living in this neighborhood at the point in time the story is taking place, when Italian immigrants couldn’t stand up to the political system or landlords the Don may not have been as satanic as you would think. Of course his power rose along with his ego and own greed, and people got hurt out of “business” but I think it is difficult to make this call form an outsider looking in.
I do not agree with this assessment. Although organized crime and the violence it brings about it horrific, I believe that Don Corleone is a product of his environment and has built a network of loyal people by doing favors and knowing favors will be done for him in return. He seems, at the core, a genuine man, true to his word and fiercely loyal to his friends and family. In the beginning of the novel, when Amerigo Bonsera asks him to murder the boys who hurt his daughter, Don Corleone refuses and states that they "...are not murderers" (23). While I am in no way saying that any of this criminal activity is right, I am saying that Don Corleone seems to function in a capacity that is mostly good in relation to his circumstances and environment. Calling him the embodiment of Satan seems harsh from my perspective.
I somewhat agree with this statement and somewhat do not. He is a criminal, he is a murderer and a power-hungry monster, yes. But he is doing what others are too afraid of. He is protecting the people he cares about and does to people what they might do to others. I DO NOT THINK that it makes it okay, but I guess it's a plausible reason.
Don Corleone is a good man. He acts not out of a desire for more power but the maintenance of his current power. His powers and influence grew initially through word of mouth, favors for friends, and life's experiences. When pushed into a corner there are two options fight or flight. Violence or peace. Don Corleone does not choose violence. He lets violence choose him; the world chooses his violence. We can use page 269 of book 3, chapter 14. The Don thinks, ". . .he runs his world far better than his enemies ran the greater world. . . this feeling [is] nurtured by the poor. . . who constantly come to him for help." Here he is correct in saying that the majority of the population does not take care of the minority of the population. life isn't fair, and its only inevitable that eventually those on the bottom will rise to the top. The Don's principal of, reason first violence later, is not the rule the rest of the world seems to follow. It's unlucky for them that the Don is a man of great influence and power.
Don Corleone is a criminal and much of the Sicilian people were criminals and part of the mafia back in the day. Yes he was the one that had connection and the person everyone trusted and loved because he has so much power over people. He was satan without it being so obvious, and he killed so many innocent lives.
I do not agree that Don Corleone is that bad of a person. Of course he was a gangster but he cared for his family and he did not want any type of bloodshed. Yes he did kill people or had his men kill other people but in those years this was something that was going on very frequently. He might of been a bad person but he looked out for his own and kept everyone in check.
I do not think that Don Corleone should be considered Satan. He is apart of the mafia and is just as guilty as anyone else that is apart of it. Throughout this book he was described by everyone as being loyal and always sticking to his word. He did have several people killed, but he did for a reason. He always did what others asked of him, no mater how big or small the favor.
Good people could not do and care in the way Don Corleone did. Your morals define the type of person you are, not your surroundings. Corleone did kill, but think about the intentions behind those killings.
It is hard to say what is the greater good unless you take yourself out the situation. Was it right to kill people? Of course not, but hasn't everyone at one point try to do everything they could to protect everything they know and love. Wouldnt you be terrified if something you always loved could be stripped from you for good and the only thing you could do is terminate whats threatning it? Isn't that another form of killing? Destroying an entity to protect your own?
I did not hate Don Corleone as much as I felt like I should. Saying there is "much worse people" out there is such a cliche, but I really just could not hate him. What he did was never justified, but like Khadijah said above me, he had to do whatever he could to protect his own. Of course, this is fiction. If I knew this man in person I am sure I would despise his guts.
The audience is lured into a false hope that he is a good person, and at times I presumed him to be. It's just so much stacked against him that you have to see through the fog, and Mario Puzo does a great job in hiding this. We have to look past Don Vito's charm and label him the bad guy just for all the wrongs he has caused and lives he has ruined. He is a prisoner of his own beliefs because any man that knowingly allows his child to be mistreated/abused based on the principles of tradition is irrational. He is a deceiver and nothing more.
Don Corleone is a criminal whose sole focus was wealth and power. Although he was a family man and did favors for many people that needed him, he believed in fixing problems by killing and threatening people. He did not know how to solve problems without violence and crime.In order to gain respect, he had to make others fear him.
ReplyDeleteI never think it was his goal to make other fear him. It seems more that he wants people to like him he wants everyone to get along. But people fear easily and his power which blossomed out of service to his community instills fear in the upper class people who fear for their status and way of life. I don't one hundred percent agree with myself but the Don's character is very two sided.
DeleteIf you look at the Don from our point of view this statement is true. But if you are looking at the Don form the families living in this neighborhood at the point in time the story is taking place, when Italian immigrants couldn’t stand up to the political system or landlords the Don may not have been as satanic as you would think. Of course his power rose along with his ego and own greed, and people got hurt out of “business” but I think it is difficult to make this call form an outsider looking in.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with this assessment. Although organized crime and the violence it brings about it horrific, I believe that Don Corleone is a product of his environment and has built a network of loyal people by doing favors and knowing favors will be done for him in return. He seems, at the core, a genuine man, true to his word and fiercely loyal to his friends and family. In the beginning of the novel, when Amerigo Bonsera asks him to murder the boys who hurt his daughter, Don Corleone refuses and states that they "...are not murderers" (23). While I am in no way saying that any of this criminal activity is right, I am saying that Don Corleone seems to function in a capacity that is mostly good in relation to his circumstances and environment. Calling him the embodiment of Satan seems harsh from my perspective.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with this statement and somewhat do not. He is a criminal, he is a murderer and a power-hungry monster, yes. But he is doing what others are too afraid of. He is protecting the people he cares about and does to people what they might do to others. I DO NOT THINK that it makes it okay, but I guess it's a plausible reason.
ReplyDeleteDon Corleone is a good man. He acts not out of a desire for more power but the maintenance of his current power. His powers and influence grew initially through word of mouth, favors for friends, and life's experiences. When pushed into a corner there are two options fight or flight. Violence or peace. Don Corleone does not choose violence. He lets violence choose him; the world chooses his violence. We can use page 269 of book 3, chapter 14. The Don thinks, ". . .he runs his world far better than his enemies ran the greater world. . . this feeling [is] nurtured by the poor. . . who constantly come to him for help." Here he is correct in saying that the majority of the population does not take care of the minority of the population. life isn't fair, and its only inevitable that eventually those on the bottom will rise to the top. The Don's principal of, reason first violence later, is not the rule the rest of the world seems to follow. It's unlucky for them that the Don is a man of great influence and power.
ReplyDeleteDon Corleone is a criminal and much of the Sicilian people were criminals and part of the mafia back in the day. Yes he was the one that had connection and the person everyone trusted and loved because he has so much power over people. He was satan without it being so obvious, and he killed so many innocent lives.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree that Don Corleone is that bad of a person. Of course he was a gangster but he cared for his family and he did not want any type of bloodshed. Yes he did kill people or had his men kill other people but in those years this was something that was going on very frequently. He might of been a bad person but he looked out for his own and kept everyone in check.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Don Corleone should be considered Satan. He is apart of the mafia and is just as guilty as anyone else that is apart of it. Throughout this book he was described by everyone as being loyal and always sticking to his word. He did have several people killed, but he did for a reason. He always did what others asked of him, no mater how big or small the favor.
ReplyDeleteGood people could not do and care in the way Don Corleone did. Your morals define the type of person you are, not your surroundings. Corleone did kill, but think about the intentions behind those killings.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to say what is the greater good unless you take yourself out the situation. Was it right to kill people? Of course not, but hasn't everyone at one point try to do everything they could to protect everything they know and love. Wouldnt you be terrified if something you always loved could be stripped from you for good and the only thing you could do is terminate whats threatning it? Isn't that another form of killing? Destroying an entity to protect your own?
ReplyDeleteI did not hate Don Corleone as much as I felt like I should. Saying there is "much worse people" out there is such a cliche, but I really just could not hate him. What he did was never justified, but like Khadijah said above me, he had to do whatever he could to protect his own. Of course, this is fiction. If I knew this man in person I am sure I would despise his guts.
ReplyDeleteThe audience is lured into a false hope that he is a good person, and at times I presumed him to be.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so much stacked against him that you have to see through the fog, and Mario Puzo does a great job in hiding this. We have to look past Don Vito's charm and label him the bad guy just for all the wrongs he has caused and lives he has ruined. He is a prisoner of his own beliefs because any man that knowingly allows his child to be mistreated/abused based on the principles of tradition is irrational. He is a deceiver and nothing more.