New Words - will (hopefully) keep updating

Dichotomy - something that is two sided
Poignancy - touching, moving: physically painful
Caesura - break-up, pause, sentence ends mid-line (how Caesar was born - c section -> caesarian section)
Enjambment -  "the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza tothe next without a syntactical break." (Dictionary .com)
Arduous - difficult
Subsantiating - to verify

The Journey from Michael Corleone to The Godfather

Michael Corleone definitely followed Joesph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" theory.

Michael went through all of the stages from Departure to Return and Reintegration with Society.  The movie starts off with Michael being at his sister's wedding, with his girlfriend Kay.  Both, look out of place-- outcasts, and Michael describes is "not [him] Kay, that's [his] family".  He resents his family.

The attempted-murder of his father.  What does Michael do?  He goes to the hospital where is father is being treated and says "I'm with you Pop", which suggests that Michael is in the midst of the second stage of the Hero's Journey: Initiation, when the Hero realizes there is another world that needs him and he becomes more aware of his new role.  When Michael is making his way to his father's room, he notices that no one except for a nurse on her night shift is there.  He finds that it is a bit strange that no one else is around--quiet.  Too quiet.  Out of paranoia, he and the nurse move his father to a different room.  He is about to leave, but Nazorini (the baker who made the cake for Connie's wedding) shows up to pay a visit Vito Corleone.  Michael hastily tells him to do what he does outside the hospital "put your fingers in your pocket, like you have a gun".  Nazorini does this out of fear of what might happen next.  A suspicious car goes by and minutes later McClusky shows up and starts to punch the lights out of Michael.  This shows how quickly he reacted to make sure that no harm was to come to his father in the hospital.  Michael has now "cross[ed] a threshold into a new, more dangerous world" (Joseph Campbell's Stages of a Hero's Journey).

The third stage: The Road of Trials.  Michael has to kill Sollazzo and McClusky.  He volunteers for the job.  He sets up a meeting with them in a restaurant, where he uses his 'magic weapon' (the gun with tape so that fingerprints do not show up) to kill them.  This is one of his trials that basically gets him on his way to becoming the new Godfather.

Since the events in the third stage happened, he had no choice but to move on to the fourth stage, which is The Inner Most Cave.  This stage is basically about the Hero needing to go into hiding for a while to think things over (which is what Michael needed to do anyway).  He moves to Sicily for about a year to be safe from the Tattaglia (since he killed Sollazzo, who is part of that family).  While he is in Sicily, he is reborn.  He changes his perspectives on the Mafia business, and gets more in touch with what he wants to do.

The final stage is Return and Reintegration with Society.  When he comes back from Sicily to America, he is more involved with the family business.  He has now become the head of the family.  Everybody respects him as everyone respected his father before him.

Michael as come a long way.  From being a normal citizen--not wanting to do anything with his father's Mafia business, to become the next--Godfather.

Literary Feature Hunt: Foreshadow? What is this? }REVISED

The blog that I made before (with the same topic), was not accurate.  Only now, I realize that there is another possible example for foreshadow; the broken car scene where Kay was talking to Tom Hagen.  The scene that foreshadows this scene is the scene where Appolonia gets blown-up in their (Michael and her) car.  Fabrizzio was the culprit who put a bomb in their car to kill Michael.  Unfortunately, Appolonia was an innocent bystander.

When Kay asked about the smashed-up car, Tom Hagen said (along the lines of) "it was an accident, nobody was hurt".  Does this mean that Coppola was trying to tell us that Appolonia's death was unimportant and "it was an accident"?

I think so.
In Alisha's blog (http://alishaenglish10.blogspot.com/2010/12/significance-of-broken-car.html), she said that she thought that the accident was referring to Kay, and as we know, that is not the case.

Another Idea about the Scarlet Woman

Talking about the Scarlet Women with my mum, she said something that made the class' idea of the Scarlet Woman and Kay to be a little inconsistent.  She made a good point that red or scarlet, is usually the colour for marriage, and not for whores.

This colour is associated in Chinese and Greek cultures.
In the Chinese culture the bride wears a red costume to represent luck and red keeps away evil spirits.
This was found on this website for further reading: http://www.chinabridal.com/etiquette/dress.htm

In the Greek culture, the bride wears a red (or yellow) veil to ward of evil spirits--same as the Chinese culture.
This was found on this website: http://www.life123.com/relationships/weddings/wedding-customs-traditions/greek-wedding-traditions.shtml

This makes sense because, in the end, Michael and Kay get married.  Then again, when Michael came back from Sicily (after the death of his wife Appolonia), he went to see Kay who was not wearing any red or scarlet at all.  This raises the question: If Kay was supposed to be like the Scarlet Woman from the Babylonia myths, then how does the (supposedly) 'whore' marry the hero?

Juxtiposition:

Juxtiposition is found during Michael and Apollina's wedding night, and the next scene with Sonny and his mistress.

Ford Coppila wanted the audience to see the comparison between the two brothers.

Michael is more respectful and traditional than Sonny.
Sonny is more rambunctious than Michael. 

Literary Feature Hunt: Foreshadow? What is this?

I'm not sure if this is foreshadow.

When Kay went to the Corleone house to find out where Michael was, there was a car with shattered windows. Kay drew attention to it as she was talking to Tom Hagen.  He replied that "it [was] nothing".

Connie (one of the Corleone daughters), was having an extremely physical fight between her and her husband Carlo.  She not only was upset that he has a mistress (a lady called saying that she was "a friend and  [she]wouldn't be able until later tonight"), but she was pregnant as well.  Her husband did not show that he cared much for her, as he totally disrespected her when she said that dinner was ready, he replied spitefully "I'm not hungry", when before he asked (more like commanded) his wife to make dinner.  As the argument goes on, Connie throws everything she gets her hands on on the floor, while screaming and yelling how cruel her husband is.  Then, Carlo says something to scare her.  He then unbuckels his belt and then starts to chase her around the house until the bedroom-- he beats Connie.  Then the scene changes to her parent's house; when Sonny is talking to his sister, she says that Carlo really hit her this time (this was not the first time).  Sonny gets furious.  He rushes out of the house in a blind rage to her house.  Tom Hagen assigned a few men to follow where Sonny was going.

At the toll booth, Sonny was going to his sister's house (probably to beat up Carlo...again), when suddenly men jump out of their hiding places and start firing their guns at Sonny. Sonny dies, and his car gets bullet holes, where the bullets punctured his car.

Does this scene foreshadow the smashed up car that the audience saw at the Corleone house, when Kay noticed it?  Was it telling us that someone was going to die in their car?  Or is there a totally different meaning to the smashed up car?

As I said before I'm not sure if this is foreshadow, it is just an idea.

Class Act: Those Winter Sundays vs. The Godfather - What do Both Sons Have in Common?

In the poems that we had read in class (Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden), we found some connections to these poems and our analysis of The Godfather. Those Winter Sundays describes the relationship between a father and a son. Like the relationship between Michael and The Godfather. "Sundays too my father got up early/...with cracked hands that ached from labor..." (Hayden, 1, 3-4), explains how tired his father is from doing all of the chores around the house at an early hour. This resembles The Godfather, because it shows how much The Godfather cares for his children because he "spoils them". Both show how even though a father may seem cruel, or seem to do illegal things (in The Godfather's case), both fathers care for their sons, even though it may not seem like it.

To make this more relevant to The Godfather, the son in the Hayden poem, seemed to be coming to terms, with what his father does for the family (or more specifically to the son). It seems that Michael is starting to be coming to terms with his father -- being more conscience of his family values than he was before. Like when he was in the hospital where is father was. "I'm with you Pop, I'm with you now", he is now being more appreciative about his father:  Don Vito Corleone, will always be Michael's father. Just as the son in the poem, how he had just come to the realization of how much he meant to his father,
and what he had done.

Michael is maturing about the role that his father played in his life and in a lot of other people's lives (who come from Italy and want to start fresh, or who want to have "The American Dream"). With this realization, he will use the thoughts of his father's role to continue his way through Joesph Campbell's Hero's Journey Theory.

What do you think? Do you think that he will turn into his father to (eventually) fill in his father's shoes as the next "Don"?

Archetypes: Michael Corleone

During the beginning of The Godfather, Michael is portrayed as a weak character who did not want to have anything to do with his father's business. When he is talking to his girlfriend Kay Adams at his sister's wedding, he describes that "that's [his family], not [him]". He is an outsider to his family. He not only resents his family, but he goes out of his way (risks his life) to be made a 'hero' in the army, to fight for America. As the story moves on, the audience sees his character change. When he sees his father in an empty, suspicious hospital (being healed of the gun shot wounds), his character changes pretty quickly. From an outcast, to someone who wants to be involved and be the second "Don" of the Corleone family. Throughout the story, he is called a hero. He has been called a War Hero, then he has been called a hero because of his idea to kill Sollazzo and, the Chief of Police, McCluskey. There are major changes in Michael's character. He is becoming a hero. The type of Archetype Journey that Michael might be taking is either probably the quest for identity or the quest for vengeance. The quest for identity, because his character keeps changing; from a flat uninteresting character, to wanting to be the new leader of the Corleone family. It will be interesting to see which side his character will be at the end of the film. The quest for vengeance, because of what happened to his father (his father was shot by people who work for the Tattaglia family and Sollazzo), he wants revenge. It is safe to say that Michael is in the second stage of Joeseph Campbell's Stages of a Hero's Journey: The Initiation Stage. Michael is "gaining a more mature perspective" (The Godfather Part I: A Hero's Journey) about the role that he plays in his family.

Literary Feature Hunt: Foreshadow

Foreshadow is used in The Godfather, when Luca Brasi went to see Sollazo, the camera angle that was used did not make Luca Brasi the important subject in the shot. Instead, a glass wall with two golden fish. At the time when the audience first sees this camera trick, it is hard to understand why it has been made. Afterward, when Sonny is looking for Luca Brasi, a package or two dead fish is brought to Sonny. This was a Sicilian message signifying that "Luca Brasi swims with the fishes"- he is dead. The theme that this literary feature illuminates is that there is a sense of family in crime. This is also shown with the camera angles, and how the camera is put into the corner and kind of eye level with the other characters (like the audience is part of the scheme as well).

The Godfather Part I: Glorifying The Mafia? (Class Discussion on the American Dream)

Glorifying the mafia or organized crime in general, was not the initial purpose of The Godfather. In what was seen so far in the movie, the director Francis Ford Coppeli, showed how dark and dangerous organized crime is. The lighting in The Godfather, shows the audience how frightening participating in organized crime. How there are life threatening and difficult decisions that need to be made, like when Tom Hagen is captured by Sollazo. Sollazo makes him an offer to join him in the drug business. The director chose to have the entire set dark, except for half of Tom Hagen's face. This lighting technique shows the audience that there are conflicting ideas inside Tom Hagen's head. Even though, he is not a blood-related member of the Corleone family he is treated like he was. Now, he has been offered to be apart of the drug business, which the Godfather (Don Corleone), had turned down before, because it would not be the safest business for the Corleone family to take part of. The Godfather shows how there are many conflicts. Whether they are personal or conflicts between two different families. However; the movie also portrays "The American Dream", and how people, mostly immigrants (from Italy in this case), can get extremely desperate for a free easy "American" lifestyle. Then of course, things do happen. For example; Bonasera's case. He brought his family from Italy, because he "believe[s] in America" and wants "The American Dream" lifestyle for his family. Then his daughter gets taken advantage of by two American boys, and justice is not served, so then he goes to Don Corleone to help him take the law into his own hands. In a way, The Godfather shows how people take drastic measures, to be happy. To have "The American Dream". The Godfather does not really glorify organized crime/ the mafia, because it shows how life-threatening this business is. Instead, The Godfather shuns the romanticized idea of "The American Dream" by showing how badly people want it and how they make dangerous decisions to be happy. Francis Ford Coppeli shows how getting help from the mafia is an option of gaining "The American Dream". The Godfather shows the sick addiction people have for "The American Dream" and what they have to do to get it.