分析《教父》中美国的社会矛盾-大学毕业（论文）设计

重庆南方翻译学院

本科毕业论文

中文题目：分析《教父》中美国的社会矛盾

外文题目：An Analysis of American Social Conflicts in The Godfather

院 系 英语语言学院 专 业 英语（翻译） 年 级 2009级 学 号 091500241022 学 生 某某 指导教师 凡凡 结稿日期 2013年5月7日

四川外语学院重庆南方翻译学院教务处制

2013年 5月 7日填

分析《教父》中美国的社会矛盾

摘要：马里奥·普佐，美国著名的现实主义作家，他的现实主义写作技巧在《教父》中表现的淋漓尽致，《教父》不仅仅是一部文学作品，更可以称为是一部解读美国社会矛盾的教科书。在《教父》这部作品中，作者通过重点讲述美国托里昂黑手党家族由盛转衰，从衰落到再次独领风骚的故事，来演绎了一段美国社会史。

纵观诸多学者对这部小说的研究，多数着重解读小说的写作技巧，成长历程和人物分析。然而，本文则侧重研究小说《教父》中所反映的美国社会现实———财富与权力的斗争，金融市场中，大银行、大公司、大集团各自为营，相互勾结，冲突不断；各种贪婪诱惑，让社会矛盾不断激化膨胀。通过分析《教父》这部小说，人们将习得与人际交往的智慧，学习到缓解矛盾的方法。

透过《教父》这部作品，笔者将通过以下三个方面来探讨美国的社会矛盾：矛盾的现象，矛盾产生的根源，以及缓解矛盾的对策。社会矛盾的缓解，对整个人类社会的文明进步有着巨大的推动作用，从而促进整个人类社会的发展。

关键字：现实主义；黑手党；社会矛盾；人类文明

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An Analysis of American Social conflicts in The Godfather

Abstract

Mario Puzo, the famous American modern realist writer, his realism writing skill is performed incisively in The Godfather. The Godfather is not only a work of literature, but also a textbook of American social contradictions. In The Godfather, the author focuses on describing the United States by telling a story of Corleone Mafia family from prosperity to decline, from declining to dominating the mafia empire once again, which is also an interpretation of a social history of the United States of America.

In many studies on this novel, most stress on the analysis of the novel writing techniques, growth process or characters. However, this paper focuses on the research of social reality the United States of America, which is wars between wealth and power. In financial market, the big banks, companies, and groups, start fierce competition. because of various greedy temptation, the intensification of social contradictions expand. Through the analysis of The Godfather, people will gain a great deal of wisdom of how to get along with people, acquire methods of easing contradiction.

In this paper, the author will discuss the United States social contradictions phenomenon as following three aspects: the phenomenon, the causes, and the solutions. The alleviation of conflicts not only plays a great role in promoting society civilization ,but also advances human civilization. Keywords: modern realism; mafia; social conflicts; human civilization

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Acknowledgments

This thesis is dedicated to the whole teachers who have taught me, especially to my instructor Gu Fan, who has helped to figure out the outline, giving me enlightening suggestion throughout all the process of the thesis. I owe an incalculable debt of gratitude to her help. Besides, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to my foreign friend Marten Selbmann for collecting necessary material for my paper.

The work would not have been possible without the help of my supporters, who gave me a great deal of cheering when I felt frustrated. We discussed a lot and got forward step by step.

I am particularly indebted to my parents, who encouraged me to persist and supplied me with the best they could offer.

Without all the support, I could not have finished this tough work.

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Contents

中文摘要.............................................................................................................ⅰ Abstract...............................................................................................................ⅱ Acknowledgments...............................................................................................iv Introduction..........................................................................................................1 I. The Phenomenon of the American Social Conflicts in The Godfather.............3 A. The Criminal Activities..............................................................................3 1.Criminal Actions Committed by Civilians Towards Civilians................4 2.The Criminality Committed by the Mafia Towards Civilians.................5 3.Crimes Committed by the Mafioso Towards Mafioso.............................7 B. The Governments`s Corruption..................................................................8 C. Danger of the National Security...............................................................10 II. The Origin of the Phenomenon......................................................................12 A. The Primary Cause—Economic System .................................................12 B. The Main Cause—Power of Social Class................................................14 C. The Unneglect Cause—Culture Diversity...............................................15 III. The Alleviation of Conflicts.........................................................................17 A. The New Operation Rules........................................................................16 B. The Solution.............................................................................................18 1.Reduction of Social Inquality................................................................18 2.Personal and Cultural Acknowledgment...............................................18 3.Money VS.Social Values.......................................................................19 Conclusion..........................................................................................................21 Notes...................................................................................................................22 Bibliography.......................................................................................................24

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An Analysis of American Social Conflicts in The Godfather

Introduction

“Behind every great fortune there is crime” said Balzac.1 Honoré de

Balzac was a French author, who lived from 1799 – 1850. His books belong to the literary genre of realism. He became especially famous for a collection of novels named La Comédie humaine . Crimes violate human rights, break up families, and unsettle

people to a degree, which make them mistrust each other, and therefore derogate the development of the whole human society. All the conflicts arising from criminality should be alleviated in some way. Therefore, people, especially the authorities who govern countries, are supposed to pay much attention to this vital concern.

Puzo’s works with their realistic writing style are reflecting the actual social conditions of the timeframe he lived in. Therefore he gives his readers an exact view on the events he observed while writing his books. In our modern age we have the chance to gain an enthralling insight of the problems of America’s in 1950’s. Especially The Godfather with its prosaic style, shows us the onset of a crime culture with nearly Darwinist consistence in a meticulous way. The Author portrays a circle of violence that no one of the parties involved could escape, because it even manifested itself in the shelter of the family. The particular stories of the individuals, who appear in this book, lay bare the nature of capitalist society by uncovering a profound human trait, namely the pursuit for wealth and power.

There is no doubt that this novel is still accurate in analyzing modern America, and even other capitalist societies. The struggle to achieve money and power continually overshadows social values like solidarity, considerateness and mutual respect. Recently several novels from modern American authors, give the same diagnosis for society. One example is Back to Blood by Tom

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Wolfe, which was published recently2. A lack of these values is fertile ground for criminality to sprawl.

What is unique about the novel is that it presents the conflicts from the perspective of the intelligent and tactical godfather. There is always someone you can learn from. The godfather, Don Corleone, shows his tremendous abilities by intelligently modifying his behavior during the interaction with different individuals. Everyone feels his accepting and understanding, which makes the “Don” exceptionally successful in leading a group and maintaining his Mafia empire.3

In this paper, I will illustrate the conflicts and analyze their causes. Afterwards I will present potential ways on how the conflicts can be resolved.

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I. The Phenomenon of the American Social Conflicts in The

Godfather

The foundation of social conflicts is the struggle for power in society. Social conflicts or group conflicts occur, when two or more actors oppose each other in social interaction, reciprocally exerting social power in an effort to attain scarce or incompatible goals and prevent the opponent from attaining them. It is a social relationship wherein the action is oriented intentionally for carrying out the actor’s own will against the resistance of other parties.4

However, contradictions are universal, absolute, existing in the whole processes of the development of things, and running through all processes from the beginning to the end. Where conflicts are, there will be obstacles. At the same time proper conflicts induce progress. This is at least true as long as the parties of contradictions can come to an agreement under some conditions. If such conflicts and their resolutions are not available, people will create them, if necessary.5

The Godfather tells a story about an Italian American family, with roots in Sicilia. Sicilian organized crime was a dominating manifestation of crime during that timeframe, and is even well-known nowadays.6

There are various levels of conflicts in The Godfather. Clashes are ubiquitous at any time, such as the quarrel between lovers, different interests among opponents and different ethnic groups, as well as various religious believes among people. Yet only a few conflicts also have a criminal dimension. This article deciphers these kinds of conflicts, by describing the phenomenon of criminality, analyzing the causes and gives solutions about how to reduce criminality as effectively as possible.

A. The Criminal Activities

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There are multifaceted criminal activities which are illustrated in the The Godfather. However they can be categorized by differentiating the particular Criminal offenders and the victims. All in all there are three different categories of crime that occur in the novel.

The following section gives examples of each category and presents the connections between them.

1. Criminal Actions Committed by Civilians Towards Civilians

To a lot of people who lived in that timeframe America seemed to be a paradise, a place with uncountable opportunities and perfect social conditions, where everyone could reach their dreams if they want. It is said that America is a country where quality, fairness, happiness and fortune prevailed. This is the main reason why so many immigrants came to the United States to pursue their American dream.7

Is it true, that only fairness and fortune can be found in America? There is following example:

Two months ago he took her for a drive. He had a masculine friend with him. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. They beat her. Like an animal. When I went to the hospital she had two black eyes. Her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered. They had to wire it together. She wept through her pain. ‘Father, Father, why did they do it? Why did they do this to me?’ And I wept.” Bonasera could not speak further, he was weeping now though his voice had not betrayed his emotion.8

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This introductory part of the book narrates how an innocent girl suffered from a traumatic experience: Amerigo Bonasera’s daughter had a boyfriend who

took her for a drive. His coarse friend accompanied them. They tried to get her drunk in order to take advantage of her. She resisted, and they resorted to violence. When her father went to the hospital she had two black eyes. Her nose was broken, and her jaw shattered.

This crime introduces the reader to a felony, which was committed by civilians. The primary motivation of the offenders, to take sexual advantage of a girl, was to satisfy their base motives. Therefore the motivation for the crime is rather primitive. The massive violence was committed, because their attempt failed. This savage reaction of the offenders is rather archaic. As if aggression would be a drive that resulted directly from the frustration about unsatisfied needs.9 It is due to all these parameters that the crime seems to be primitive, barbaric and gruesome.

2. The Criminality Committed by the Mafia Towards Civilians

The second category of criminality is directly committed by the Mafia, the organized criminality.

In the following examines, whether the Mafia criminality in The Godfather fits into the acknowledged definition of organized crime:

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity… An organized gang or criminal set can also be referred to as a mob.10

The Godfather, Don Corleone, also runs a criminal enterprise. In this enterprise he, with the support of his lawyer Tom Hagen, meets all important decision. He is the central intelligence, the brain, of his enterprise. Thus his

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enterprise is centralized. The enterprise has his roots and still some connections to Sicily in Italy, therefore the enterprise can be deemed transnational. The key activities of the enterprise are gambling and alcohol smuggling. So the purpose of the enterprise is obviously to engage in criminal actions. As we can see the Mafia enterprise of The Godfather fits into the definition above.

Nevertheless there are some outstanding aspects of his Mafia business, which shall be highlighted. The first substantial characteristic is that Don Corleone----the leader of the Mafia group----uses the concept of friendship as a constitutive element. He does people a----most likely illegal----favor and they may be asked to return the favor later on.

This kind of friendship he is not only keeping with the upper class. Everyone can turn to him as long as they show their respect, honesty, and loyalty. This method can be condensed in an old Chinese wisdom: “whom beloved and supported by the people heartily, who will win the world.”11

In this way, Don Corleone makes people part of his Mafia empire to expand it, and use people’s individual talents. Puzo explains this whole concept on the example of Amerigo Bonasera. He is also an Italian American but unlike Don Corleone he had the intention to live a life as an honorable American who clings to the values of his country. He gave up this moral code after his daughter was brutally mistreated. The Godfather helped him to get revenge by maltreating the offenders of his daughter:

The two big men were beating Moonan to jelly. They did so with frightening deliberation, as if they had all the time in the world. They did not throw punches in flurries… One of them held Wagner up by using his two hands around Wagner's head like a vise. The other man smashed his huge fist into the fixed target.12

This criminal deed was committed by the Mafia towards civilians. There a several points which are worth noticing. Firstly the first crime that was

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committed by the offenders was the direct cause for the second crime. With this Puzo wanted to show his readers that violence leads to counter - violence, called spiral of violence.13

The second interesting point is that the motive for the crime. The vengeance for Bonaserra′s daughter seems to be a more sophisticated reason than the primitive motive of her offenders. Even though this is true, the self-administrated justice of Don Corleone, who acts as a judge, has the same massive degree of violence. With this Puzo wanted to show his readers that even if the motives for both crimes are different. Yet they are committed in a similarly brutal and savage way.

3. Crimes Committed by the Mafioso Towards Mafioso

For the crimes that are committed by mafioso towards Mafioso the never uses the theme of violence and counter - violence again. However unlike the Civilians the Mafiosi almost always act with the intention to kill:

The first bullet caught Don Corleone in the back. He felt the hammer shock of its impact but made his body move toward the car. The next two bullets hit him in the buttocks and sent him sprawling in the middle of the street. Meanwhile the two gunmen, careful not to slip the rolling fruit, started to follow in order to finish him off…The gunmen fired two more hasty shots at the Don lying in the gutter. One hit him in the fleshy part of his arm and the second hit him in the calf of his right leg. Though these wounds were the least serious the bled profusely, forming small pools of blood beside his body. But by this time Don Corleone had lost consciousness.14

Don Corleone, his criminal activities focus on gambling and alcohol smuggling business, while he refused to take part in the drug-, or the prostitution “business”, due to his own sense of morality. His disagreement with

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drug dealings leaded to the assault on his life. He was an obstacle in the business of all rivalling clans and therefore they intended to eliminate him. In the Mafia environment killing is the same as operating against a business competitor. In opposition to the crimes between civilians, the Mafia established a crime culture. Crime is not the exception but the rule and a regular business strategy.

There are several insights concerning criminality that can be deviated from The Godfather.

Firstly: Criminality will lead to further criminality.

Secondly: Criminality between civilians is a horrible and gruesome exception and often something personal.

Thirdly: In opposition to that criminality, which is committed by the Mafia is just part of a regular crime culture. Severe violence is deemed a something normal, a regular instrument to gain economic success.

Fourthly: The Godfather amalgamates the spheres of civilians and the Mafia by regularly integrating people who need his help into his Mafia Empire.

B. The Government’s Corruption

The preceding section presented the different categories of crimes and their phonotypical characteristics. Subsequently it is necessary to explore the external circumstances that enable the organized criminality. The most essential external factor is the Government′s Corruption. If the forces that are supposed to fight Criminals help them instead and become part of a criminal apparatus itself, a stable culture of crime and violence can manifest itself.

Actually, government corruption is common:

The The judge, a formidably heavy-featured man, rolled up the sleeves of his black robe as if to physically chastise the two young

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men standing before the bench. His face was cold with majestic contempt. But there was something false in all this that Amerigo Bonasera sensed but did not yet understand… the judge said harshly. Yes, yes, thought Amerigo Bonasera. Animals. Animals. The two young men, glossy hair crew cut, scrubbed clean-cut faces composed into humble contrition, bowed their heads in submission. The judge went on. “You acted like wild beasts in a jungle and you are fortunate you did not sexually molest that poor girl or I’d put you behind bars for twenty years.” The judge paused; his eyes beneath impressively thick brows flickered slyly toward the sallow-faced Amerigo Bonasera, and then lowered to a stack of probation reports before him. He frowned and shrugged as if convinced against his own natural desire. He spoke again. But because of your youth and your fine family background the sentence will be suspended.15

Putzo illustrates that corruption has spread like a virus. Already at the beginning of the novel, he introduces the figure of the judge, who gives a rather mild sentence to two young men, who brutally mistreated a helpless girl. As a reason for this sentence, he states their fine family background. Within the course of the story the reader gains the insight, that the judge was bribed by the men’s wealthy families:

Captain Mark McCluskey sat in his office fingering three envelopes bulging with betting slips. He was frowning and wishing he could decode the notations on the slips. It was very important that he do so. The envelopes were the betting slips that his raiding parties had picked up when they had hit one of the Corleone Family bookmakers the night before. Now the bookmaker would have to buy back the slips so that players couldn’t claim winners and wipe him out.16

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