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
The members of the Corleone Family are working on a plan to deal with Sollozzo, and Fredo is still in a state of shock over his father’s near-assassination. Michael and Kay try to restore normalcy by planning a date, while the radio news announces the discovery of Paulie’s body in the car. Hagen and Sonny discuss the potential deal to make with the Turk, who has ceased contact with the Corleones. They worry that Sollozzo has already made a deal with the other New York families, so that all of those families will unite in a war against the Corleone Family.
The Corleone Family’s weakened position following Don Corleone’s near-assassination demonstrates the perils of being the most powerful of all the Mafia Families. Such power only invites the other Families to try to seize that power for themselves. In addition, Michael’s attempt to restore normalcy by going out with Kay is bound to fail because the firm link between his family and the Family business will soon force him to choose between the latter and the former.
Themes
As Michael, Hagen, Sonny, Tessio, and Clemenza sit down to eat spaghetti, they hear a noise in the kitchen. Clemenza investigates and returns displaying Luca Brasi’s bulletproof vest with a dead fish wrapped inside of it. “The fish means that Luca Brasi is sleeping on the bottom of the ocean,” says Hagen, “it’s an old Sicilian message.”
This scene demonstrates the close relationship between the Corleone family and the Corleone Family business. As the men attempt to eat together in the family home, “work” interrupts their meal in the form of the dead Luca Brasi’s vest. The violence of the outside world interrupts the sanctity of their domestic setting.
Themes
