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"?