The Godfather

Michael is Don Vito Corleone’s third-youngest child who becomes the new Don of the Corleone Crime Family after his father’s retirement and subsequent passing. Unlike the hotheaded Sonny and the passive Fredo, Michael shares his father’s cunning, even-temperedness, and quiet ruthlessness, all of which make him the ideal candidate to succeed Vito as Don. At the beginning of the novel, Puzo introduces Michael as the one Corleone son who does not wish to join the Family business. Michael attends Dartmouth College and, in 1941, he enlists in the army following America’s entry in World War II. Although he earns medals for bravery in combat, Michael’s military service angers Vito, who believes that family loyalty supersedes patriotism. Michael also dates the non-Italian teaching student, Kay Adams, further demonstrating his willingness to break from family tradition. Yet Puzo uses Michael to highlight the Mafia’s suction-like power to absorb even those who wish to escape its all-consuming influence. Sollozzo’s attempted murder of Don Vito thrusts Michael into the position of his father’s protector. His loyalty to his father leads Michael to become the “button man” (hitman) who “makes his bones” (gains membership in the Mafia) by murdering both Sollozzo and McCluskey. To escape prosecution for these murders, Michael flees to Sicily, where, under the protection of the local Mafia chieftains, he becomes thoroughly enmeshed in the world of organized crime. There, he marries a beautiful girl named Apollonia—having essentially cut Kay out of his life at this point—but Apollonia dies tragically in a car bomb explosion meant for Michael After returning to New York and marrying Kay, Michael to takes over as Don of the Family, with his father’s blessing, and successfully orchestrates the murder of the other Mafia Dons and Moe Greene, who stands in the way of the Corleones’ plan to expand into Las Vegas. Even more so than Vito, Michael represents the role destiny plays in shaping the fate of those who cast their lot with the mob.