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
Michael flies back to New York and prepares to execute a plan that has been two years in the making. After steady tutelage under Don Corleone and Tom Hagen, Michael is now fully aware of the extent of his Family’s wealth and power (in addition to their rackets, they have holdings in banks, real estate, and the garment sector). He is now married to Kay, and they have a baby girl. Kay has grown closer to Mama Corleone and she considers converting from Protestantism to Catholicism. Mama Corleone attends church every morning, where she prays for her husband’s soul.
The Don’s genius as a crime boss lies in the way he has so intricately woven his “legitimate” businesses with his criminal rackets. Having one foot in the legitimate world gives him the impression that he can eventually extract his Family from their Mafia environment. However, the all-consuming nature of the Mafia is such that even as he longs for legitimate power, he plots with Michael to secure his illegitimate power by murderous means.
Themes
Kay is still uncertain how Michael feels about Connie’s husband, Carlo. Although Michael told her about Carlo’s indirect role in Sonny’s death, he responded by giving Carlo and Connie a house at the mall and promoted Carlo to a job running a labor union racket. Carlo also stopped drinking, gambling, visiting prostitutes, and beating Connie, all of which pleased the Family.
Kay still harbors suspicions about the true extent of Michael’s criminality, yet her love for him continues to draw her further (and blindly) into his clandestine world. Meanwhile, the Family gives Carlo an expanded role in the business, and he responds by adjusting his behavior to ingratiate himself to the Corleones. Michael, however, seems to be lulling Carlo into a false sense of security by treating him like an animal being fattened up to slaughter.
Themes
After he arrives home from Las Vegas, Michael holds an evening meeting with Don Corleone, Tom Hagen, Carlo, Clemenza, and Tessio. Since the meeting of the Five Families and Don Corleone’s retirement, the Corleone Family’s strength has declined, leaving the Barzini Family as the strongest in New York. Michael is now positioned to take over as the new Don, and though the caporegimes respect Michael, they are unsure of his leadership qualities. The Don, however, has “absolute faith” in Michael, who lays out his master plan to revive the Family’s power.
Don Corleone positions Michael as the potential savior of the Corleone Family. Yet Michael must demonstrate his qualifications beyond merely being the Don’s son. The caporegimes are justifiably unsure of Michael’s abilities to lead the Family back to power. Thus, Michael’s master plan to cripple the other Families also functions as a demonstration of his personal power and influence—a statement of his worthiness to become the next Don Corleone.
Themes
Michael reveals that the Family will sell all of its eastern assets so it can move west and fully enter the casino business. He instructs Tessio and Clemenza to wait until the end of the year, after which they can split from the Corleones and start their own crime Families. Michael also reveals Tom is “out” as Consigliere. Tessio wants to add more men to his regime to fend off encroachment from the Barzinis, but Michael tells him to wait. “There are things being negotiated which will answer your questions and resolve your doubts,” Michael insists, demonstrating his clear power as the new acting Don.
Again, Michael demonstrates the essential qualities of patience and forethought that make him a natural successor to his equally patient and deliberate father. Unlike Sonny, whose rashness and unwillingness to bide his time in the face of attacks from the Five Families led to his downfall, Michael has placed his faith in a single calculated blow that can only be achieved by waiting until the right moment to strike.
Themes
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Michael adjourns the meeting and shares a drink with Hagen and Don Corleone. Tom wants to know why he is “out” of the Family business, to which Michael responds that he is simply not fit to be a “wartime” Consigliere. Don Corleone tells Hagen that he must respect Michael’s wishes. “I never thought you were a bad Consigliere, I thought Santino a bad Don, may his soul rest in peace,” the Don says.
Tom is dismayed that his years of loyalty have resulted in a demotion. In demoting Tom, it seems that Michael plans to distinguish himself from his father by gradually surrounding himself with new faces in the upper ranks of his Family.
Themes
After Hagen leaves the meeting, Michael tells Don Corleone that his coming plan will serve as both vengeance for Apollonia and Sonny as well as a way to wrest power from Don Barzini. “Revenge is a dish that tastes best when it is cold,” the Don responds. With the Don’s blessing, Michael indicates that the wait is over and the he will begin implementing his master plan to restore the Corleone Family’s power. In the meantime, Kay gives birth to a baby boy and Nino Valenti dies of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Michael has taken to heart Don Corleone’s belief that the most effective vengeance involves careful planning and preparation—like waiting to eat food when it is cool as to not get burned. In waiting to enact his plan, Michael risks losing support from the caporegimes, who have already told him they want to break away from the Corleone Family. Nonetheless, Michael’s confidence in his plan is such that he is willing to test the loyalty of his father’s most loyal lieutenants.
Themes
After Nino’s funeral, authorities find Moe Greene shot to death in his mistress’s Hollywood home. A month later, Al Neri returns home to New York after a vacation in the Caribbean by way of Las Vegas. Michael greets him with compliments and a lucrative new bookmaking operation.
Neri receives more lavish compensation for committing murder than he ever did for enforcing the law as a police officer. This further demonstrate how the Mafia is able to lure people from legitimate society into its criminal ranks.
Themes
