Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Godfather, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Crime and Justice
Power
Masculinity and Patriarchy
Family
Loyalty and Betrayal
Summary
Analysis
Having moved Don Corleone to a different hospital room, Michael steps outside to wait for Sonny’s reinforcements. Suddenly, Enzo, the baker’s helper emerges from the shadows outside of the hospital. He wants to pay his respects to the Don who prevented his deportation. A car drives slowly by, giving the impression that its driver recognizes Michael. Enzo is terrified but remains by Michael’s side. Then a police car pulls up and two officers approach Michael. Michael asks what happened to his father’s guard detail, to which one of the officers, Captain Mark McCluskey, angrily responds that he “pulled them off.”
The slow passing of the car outside the hospital suggests the looming presence of death. When confronted by McCluskey, the terrified Enzo contrasts sharply with the cool and confident Michael. Despite facing a man with more power and authority than him, Michael stands up to the police captain, proving that he is a worthy protector for his father.
Themes
Michael suspects that Sollozzo was in the first car that drove by, and that McCluskey is on the Turk’s payroll. He concludes that McCluskey called off Don Corleone’s guard detail so that Sollozzo could finally murder the Don. McCluskey tells his officers to send Michael to jail, but they protest that he is a war hero and they have no reason to jail him. “How much is the Turk paying you to set my father up, Captain?” Michael asks. McCluskey responds by savagely punching Michael in the face, breaking his jaw and dislodging several teeth.
In addition to his courage in the face of the intimidating McCluskey, Michael shows his keen intelligence by surmising that the police captain is actually working for Sollozzo. By confronting the powerful cop, Michael sacrifices his body. He absorbs McCluskey’s savage attack and thus further plays the role of the prodigal son who comes to redeem the father.
Themes
As Michael reels from McCluskey’s attack, Sonny’s men arrive with a lawyer to guard Don Corleone. The police retreat. Michael awakens the next morning to find that his jaw has been wired shut and that Hagen has placed a small army of private detectives around Don Corleone. Michael also learns that the Corleones successfully hit Bruno Tattaglia earlier that morning. With Bruno dead, Sollozzo once again calls Sonny to set up a meeting.
Michael’s foresight and courage prevents yet another attempt on Don Corleone’s life, but Sonny’s murder of Tattaglia demonstrates that in the Mafia, violence only begets further violence through a cycle of retaliatory murder. Sollozzo appears willing to break this cycle by offering to meet again with the Corleones, but violence always looms in the background, informing every decision the Mafia parties make.
Themes
Later that morning, Sonny, Hagen, Michael, Tessio, and Clemenza discuss whether to meet Sollozzo. The Turk refuses to negotiate with the hotheaded Sonny and prefers to speak with the more even-tempered Michael instead. Sollozzo says he will provide a hostage in Michael’s place to ensure Michael’s safety. Hagen urges Sonny to agree to the meeting, but Sonny wants to demand that the other families give up Sollozzo “or fight the Corleone family.”
This section marks the point where Sonny’s inability to think beyond his own rage begins to cripple his role as acting boss of the Corleone Family. Hagen recognizes that Sonny’s demand for more bloodshed will only result in a costly war.
Themes
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Hagen then confirms that McCluskey is indeed on Sollozzo’s payroll and stands to gain “a piece” of the Turk’s drug operation. Hagen argues that Sollozzo is “invulnerable” under the protection of a police captain, and that attacking the two men would cause an uproar both in the Mafia and among the police and other officials who are on the Corleones’ payroll. “The Corleone Family would become outcasts,” he states, “even the old man’s political protection would run for cover.” Sonny decides to wait, but Michael suggests that Sollozzo will not stop until Don Corleone is dead. “You have to get Sollozzo right away,” Michael reasons.
For all of his hotheadedness, Sonny does prove willing to take Hagen’s advice and wait before retaliating further against Sollozzo and the Tattaglias. Only Michael, however, recognizes that no amount of negotiations can stop Sollozzo from trying to kill Don Corleone. Like Sonny, Michael proposes violence to deal with the problem. Unlike Sonny, however, Michael realizes that this violence must target Sollozzo directly.
Themes
Michael believes that “there are times when the most extreme measures are justified,” and lays out a plan. He will meet with Sollozzo and McCluskey at a public place that will guarantee his safety. He will go unarmed, but if Tessio or Clemenza can stash a gun at the site beforehand, Michael will retrieve it and “take both of them.” Sonny teases his “high-class college kid” brother for becoming “mixed up in the Family business.” Despite Sonny’s teasing, Michael’s stern demeanor indicates the seriousness with which he has concocted his plan.
Here, Michael undergoes the next step in his baptism into the Corleone Family. Having already decided that he will protect his father at any cost, Michael reasons that the cost must be murder. Sonny teases Michael for getting “mixed up in the Family business,” but Michael made the decision to do so the moment he learned of Don Corleone’s shooting.
Themes
Michael adds that the Corleone Family’s newspaper connections will appreciate printing a story about a corrupt police captain who got what he deserved. An impressed Sonny finally admits to his brother, “you’re a Corleone after all, you son of a bitch,” and welcomes Michael’s desire to “kill those fucks that are trying to destroy our father and our Family.” Clemenza begins teaching Michael how to handle an untraceable gun wrapped in fingerprint-resistant tape. As the plan is set in motion, Michael feels a “delicious refreshing chilliness all over his body.”
When Sonny emphasizes that trying to destroy Don Corleone is tantamount to destroying the Family, he undermines Hagen’s earlier claim that the hit on the Don was merely “business” and not “personal.” The reality of the Mafia lifestyle is that Family and family are inseparable. What affects the one will inevitably affect the other.
Themes
