Godfather Analysis

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The immigrant experience of Vito Corleone continues 16 years after he was detained and quarantined at Ellis Island for smallpox. The Godfather two has progressed with Vito Corleone beginning a family in the United States with his wife Carmella Corleone and his eldest son Sonny. Throughout the rest of the movie Vito’s family becomes the driving force behind his actions, as everything he does is in order to bring his family closer to achieving the American dream instilled into Vito since the moment he saw the Statue of Liberty. Throughout the movie Vito tries in different ways approaches to make a better life for himself as he has coming from nothing. According to Jim Cullen author of The American Dream : A Short History Of An Idea That Shaped A Nation “The American Dream was never meant to be a zero-sum solution: the goal has always been to end up with more than you started with. Even the Puritans, whose dream in its purest formulation… nevertheless acted from this premise.“(Cullen 159). This demonstrates Vito’s drive to better in the Godfather two. In order to maintain his family Vito Corleone took a job at a local fruit stand in Little Italy owned by Genco Abbandando. At this point in his life Vito Corleone is employed in a typical immigrant aspect; during this time many Italian immigrants took jobs as dockhands, grocery workers, and any other jobs that didn’t ask for an educated background. Vito along with the majority of Italian immigrants came to this country with nothing, as a result it was difficult for them to not only sustain themselves but go to school as well. One day while Vito is working at the grocery store, Don Fannuci steps into the store demanding that his nephew be employed at Genco’s store. As a consequence Vito is let go, and now faces the hardships of an unemployed immigrant with a family to maintain. Luckily for Vito his life is about to be
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