Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War: Horror, Beauty, and Humanity
Power, Reality, and Absurdity
History and Storytelling
Politics and Friendship
Family, Opportunity, and Gender Dynamics
Summary
Analysis
Pelagia begins receiving postcards in the mail from all over the world. They're written in Greek and she wonders if Dr. Iannis's soul is traveling or if they're from Corelli, but reasons they're both dead. She keeps them anyway. Antonia teases Pelagia about a secret boyfriend to distract from her own romance. While working at a café Antonia met Alexi, a radical lawyer. They got engaged quickly. Pelagia sees that Alexi will become conservative later in life, but objects mostly to the age difference: Alexi is 32. Nonetheless, their wedding is delightful. Alexi's speech praises Pelagia and he asks her permission to buy a house in her village, which earns him a place in her heart.
Again, Pelagia's assessment of Alexi's future political leanings shows clearly that she recognizes that political beliefs themselves aren't all that important when it comes to relationships, as the beliefs will inevitably change over time. Rather, what's more important is Alexi's desire to be kind and respectful to Pelagia, as he understands that she'll be able to make life better for him than politics can.
Themes
Pelagia waits for a grandchild while Drosoula opens a taverna in her old home. Cephalonia begins to attract tourists from Italy and Germany, and Drosoula does so much business in the summer she doesn't have to work in the winter. Lemoni helps serve and Pelagia pretends to help, but actually just practices her Italian. The service is impossibly slow but the tourists love Drosoula for her preposterous stories.
The new influx of German and Italian tourists returns the island to a state that resembles the positive aspects of how things were during the occupation, which reinforces Dr. Iannis's assertion that history will repeat itself in a number of different ways.
Themes
Eventually, Pelagia forgives Antonia for smoking and wearing pants. In 1967 and 1973, Pelagia lives briefly with Antonia when officials lock up Alexi for no reason. She even understands Antonia's desire to participate in feminist demonstrations and feels as though it's partly her fault, as she taught Antonia to think. However, Pelagia resents Antonia for not having a baby. Drosoula dies in her rocking chair in 1972 and Pelagia takes over the taverna.
The fact that Pelagia shakes her head at Antonia's interest in feminism and understands her participation suggests that Pelagia continues to recognize that by teaching Antonia to think, she raised a daughter who will naturally think differently from her. Again, she doesn't see this as a bad thing since she knows Antonia will eventually change.
Themes
Alexi becomes a socialist about this time, though he anxiously realizes that his success has turned him into the type of bourgeois person he publically professes to hate. At age 34, Antonia finally gives in and allows herself to become pregnant. She gives birth to a little boy. Pelagia begins to call him Iannis and speaks to him only in Italian. Alexi decides he needs something to pass on to his son, so he builds vacation rentals and updates Drosoula's tavern for Pelagia.
Alexi's decision to build vacation rentals so he has something to pass on to Iannis is proof that Pelagia was right and he is becoming more conservative in his middle age, given that communism would not have supported that kind of wealth.
Themes
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