THE REPRESENTATION OF 'S LIFE BACKGROUND IN THE SETTING OF

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By

DEBIE KHARISMAWATI

Student Number: 054214055

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2010 THE REPRESENTATION OF MARIO PUZO'S LIFE BACKGROUND IN THE SETTING OF THE GODFATHER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By

DEBIE KHARISMAWATI

Student Number: 054214055

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2010

i

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iii What am I to you.... tell me darling true To me you are the sea.... fast as you can be And deep the shade of blue

When you're feeling low.... to whom else do you go See I cry if you hurt.... I'd give you my last shirt Because I love you so

If my sky should fall.... would you even call Opened up my heart.... I never want to part I'm giving you the ball

When I look in your eyes..... I can feel butterflies I love you when you're blue.... tell me darling true What am I to you.....

(What Am I To You by. Norah Jones)

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For

My Beloved Parents

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am so excited that finally I can finish my thesis and my four years' education in Sanata Dharma University. I can not go through all of those years without the help from all of the people who supported me. I want to dedicate this page to all of those people who have helped me through my college life.

First of all I want to show my gratitude to Dewi Widyastuti, S.pd., M.

Hum., as my sponsor for helping me to write my thesis. Thanks for being patient and the advices while helping me. I also want to show my gratitude to Adventina Putranti,

S.S, M. Hum as my co-sponsor. Thanks for the correction and the advice in writing my thesis. I want to say thanks to all of my lecturers and staff in English Letters

Department in Sanata Dharma University. I want to say thanks to my family, my

Mom who is my best friend and also my biggest enemy at the same time, my Dad who is the most handsome man in the house, and my little sister Yessica. I want to say thanks to all of the support, help, affection, and love. I am happy and I am proud to be the part of this family (I started to cry when I type this part).

I also want to say thanks to all of my friends in Sanata Dharma University especially from English Letters 2005: Cita, Della, Pipi, Ori, Dimas, Lita, Agung,

Jimmy, Tetty, Weny, Nani, Priska, Fajar, Putri, and Estu. I want to say thanks to all of my classmates and my friends in The Underpants, in Newly Married Couple, in

Sweeney Todd, in The Importance of Being Earnest, in Wine in The Wilderness, in

vi In Love With Madonna, in Lady Kerbstone Pygmalion, in Engagement, and my friends in my latest play performance in Grease.

I want to say thanks to all my friends in KKN 2008, Hellen, Felly, Tya, and Susi for making the hard time become a good time. I want to say thanks to all of my ex-Rover friends, Be, Agung, Ronny and family, Henry, and Eno for the friendships. I also want to say thanks to my friends in Just Listen for the opportunity to sing together. I want to say thanks to all of my ex-boys wherever they are all now for giving me the bitter sweet memories that brought the inspirations to me. I want to say thanks to my biggest best friend Hani for the friendship and support, for laughs and tears that we go through together, and I believe seven years is only the beginning of our friendship. At last but not least, I want to say thanks to Fabian William Darwin and the family for the time, memory, support, friendship, and advice. I believe God always blessed William and the family. At last but not least, I want to say thanks to

God for giving me a wonderful life and wonderful people around me.

Debie Kharismawati

vii TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ...... i APPROVAL PAGE ...... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...... iii MOTTO PAGE...... iv DEDICATION PAGE...... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... viii ABSTRACT...... x ABSTRAK ...... xi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...... 1 A. Background of the Study...... 1 B. Problem Formulation...... 3 C. Objectives of the Study...... 3 D. Definition of Terms ...... 3

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW...... 6 A. Review of Related Studies...... 6 B. Review of Related Theories...... 8 1. Theory of Setting ...... 8 a. Place...... 9 b. Occupation and Daily Manner...... 10 c. Time...... 10 d. General Environment...... 12 C. Mafia in the United States ...... 12 1. Mafia Tradition...... 14 2. Mafia Activities...... 15 D. Mario Puzo’s Life Background ...... 16 E. Theoretical Framework ...... 18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY...... 20 A. Object of the Study...... 20 B. Approach of the Study...... 21 C. Method of the Study...... 22

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS...... 23 A. Setting in the Godfather...... 23 1. Setting of Place 23 a. Long Beach House...... 24 b. House...... 28

viii c. Hell's Kitchen...... 29 d. , ...... 31 2. Daily Manner and Occupation...... 31 a. A Better Living and The Structural Crime Organization in the United States after World War II...... 34 b. Mafia's Control in Occupation after World War II and Marriage Tradition in Corleone...... 35 c. Middle Class Life in Hell's Kitchen...... 38 3. Setting of Time 40 4. General Environment ...... 43 a. Moral Values in Family...... 44 b. The Importance of Education in and Women's Education After World War II...... 45 c. Religious Aspect in Corleone Family...... 46 d. Social Environment in the United States and Corleone...... 47 B. The Representation of Mario Puzo’s Life Background in the Setting...... 49 1. An American Born in Italian Immigrant Family...... 50 2. Puzo's Childhood in Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood...... 51 3. Puzo's Retired Time in Long Island...... 52 4. Puzo's Father's Occupation and Middle Class Life in Immigrants' Neighborhood...... 53 5. Puzo's Lifetime Experience in the Historical Events and the Setting of Time of The Godfather...... 54

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...... 59

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 64

ix ABSTRACT

DEBIE KHARISMAWATI. The Representation of Mario Puzo's Life Background in the Setting of The Godfather. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

The Godfather is a novel of Mario Puzo that tells about the story of Italian mafia family in New York. Puzo brought a story about an Italian immigrant mafia, who really exist, by exploring the structure and the culture of the mafia in 1920 – 1950. The setting of this novel is related to the lifetime of Mario Puzo as the author of this novel and this relationship is interesting to be analyzed further. This thesis is going to discuss the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of his own novel The Godfather. There are two problems that have been formulated to understand the analysis better. Since the setting is the main focus of the analysis, therefore the first problem deals with the description of the setting in the novel. The description of the setting includes the setting of place, daily manner and occupation, setting of time, and general environment. The last problem is to find out the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of The Godfather. To analyze the novel, Biographical approach will be used. This approach is considered to be appropriate to apply in analyzing the representation of Mario Puzo’s background in the setting of The Godfather. The method used in conducting the analysis was library research. It means that the data that support the analysis were obtained mostly from some books and references from library. The data from reliable sources in the Internet were also used to add some references. To make thorough analysis, there were some steps to take. First step is to choose literary work as the object of the study. Second step is to find theories and data that related to the topic and problem formulation. The last step is to arrange the data and the theories that had been classified in systematic way to make the application easier. It can be concluded that there are five aspects that show the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of The Godfather. Based on the description of four elements of setting (setting of place, daily manner and occupation, setting of time, and general environment) there are five aspects that related between the setting in the novel and the author's life background. The five aspects are: An American Born in Italian Immigrant Family, Puzo's Childhood in Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood, Puzo's Retired Time in Long Island, Puzo's Father's Occupation and Middle Class Life in Immigrants' Neighborhood, Puzo's Lifetime Experience in the Historical Events and the Setting of Time of The Godfather.

x ABSTRAK

DEBIE KHARISMAWATI. The Representation of Mario Puzo's Life Background in the Setting of The Godfather. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.

Novel karya Mario Puzo yang berjudul The Godfather bercerita tentang keluarga mafia Italia di New York. Puzo membawa kita ke dalam cerita tentang mafia imigran dari Italia yang benar ada keberadaannya pada tahun 1920-1950 dengan eksplorasi terhadap struktur keorganisasian dan tradisi dari mafia pada saat itu. Setting dalam novel ini berhubungan erat dengan waktu masa hidup Mario Puzo sebagai pengarang novel ini dan hubungan tersebut sangat menarik untuk dikaji lebih jauh. Skripsi ini tidak hanya semata untuk mencari referensi tentang kehidupan pengarangnya tetapi juga untuk memahami kejadian-kejadian bersejarah yang terjadi semasa hidup pengarang yang bisa dilihat dari elemen setting novel tersebut. Skripsi ini membahas tentang gambaran latar belakang kehidupan pengarang yang terdapat dalam setting novel The Godfather. Ada dua rumusan masalah untuk memahami lebih baik dalam menganalisa. Rumusan masalah yang pertama adalah mencari deskripsi setting dalam novel karena setting menjadi fokus dalam analisa skripsi ini. Deskripsi setting terdiri dari setting tempat, kehidupan sehari-hari dan jenis pekerjaan karakter dalam novel, setting waktu, dan lingkungan umum karakter dalam novel. Rumusan masalah yang terakhir adalah untuk mencari gambaran latar belakang kehidupan Mario Puzo di dalam setting dari novel The Godfather. Metode yang dipakai dalam analisa masalah adalah studi pustaka. Data yang diperoleh berasal dari referensi buku-buku di perpustakaan. Data-data dari sumber terpercaya di Internet juga dipakai dalam metode analisa. Untuk menganalisa secara keseluruhan maka dibuat beberapa langkah. Langkah yang pertama adalah memilih karya sastra yang akan dianalisa. Yang kedua adalah mencari beberapa teori dan data-data yang berhubungan dengan topik dan rumusan masalah. Langkah yang terakhir adalah menyusun semua data yang sudah terkumpul secara sistematis untuk mempermudah penggunaannya dalam menganalisa. Ada beberapa kesimpulan yang bisa ditarik dari analisa masalah. Diantaranya terdapat empat elemen dalam setting yang terdapat dalam The Godfather. Elemen tersebut adalah setting tempat, kehidupan sehari-hari dan jenis pekerjaan karakter dalam novel, setting waktu, dan lingkungan umum karakter dalam novel. Kesimpulan berikutnya adalah terdapat hubungan antara deskripsi setting dalam novel dan latar belakang hidup pengarangnya. Maka, dapat ditarik kesimpulan bahwa gambaran latar belakang hidup Mario Puzo dapat ditemukan di beberapa aspek elemen setting dalam novel The Godfather.

xix CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Being different from poems, a novel is such a complicated arrangements of characters, plot, setting, symbols, and other elements mixed up in one spirit in the form of long narrative. Its length and multiciplity of episodes give the author enough room to explore in some details the complexities of human nature. Mc Namee said that the long narrative has always been a popular form of literature (1952: 283). To understand further about the content of the story we should learn about the elements of the story itself, for example is studying the setting element of the story. Setting described the time and place or social condition that happened in the story. Setting can be related to the background of the author of the story such as the time when the author lived, the place where the author lived, and what had happened in the life time of the author. This makes one of the work of Mario Puzo, The Godfather, suitable for learning about the relationship between the setting element in the story of The

Godfather and the lifetime of the author Mario Puzo.

Puzo brought a story about an Italian immigrant mafia, who really exists, by exploring the structure and the culture of the mafia. Furthermore in that period,

1920 – 1940. Many mafia families spread out in many states and one of them is in

New York. There are five big families in New York and some appeared in the novel

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of The Godfather. The controlled New York in the 1930s and dominated the (www.organized-crime.de/lauhtm01.htm. May 7th 2009). One of the examples of famous mafia chief is Joe Bonanno who had already ran a New York

Empire for 30 years (www.query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html. May 7th 2009).

Another example of mafia chief in that period is Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano who also one of the strongest mafia chief in New York while Al Capone controlled Chicago

(www.biography.com/key/charlesluciano/2316/htm Sept 1st 2008).

Another consideration in using The Godfather to find the representation of Mario Puzo's life background is the life time of the author who was born on

October 15th 1920 in New York. The life time and where he lived related to the setting time and place in his novel The Godfather. The social condition in his childhood after World War II that also known as The Great Depression in US lead to the development of organized crime in US that later became the setting in his novel.

The close relationship between life background and his novel lead to the discussion to find the representation of his life time in his own work.

This thesis is aimed not only to find the references to the author's life but also to understand the historical event that happened in author's life time that is represented in the setting element of his work. This thesis is going to discuss the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of his own novel The

Godfather. However, this novel is chosen because of the content of the story and how it is presented. Understanding the setting of the story is worthy to discuss to reveal 3

the representation of author's life background. the representation of author's life background.

B. Problem Formulation

The problem formulation will be conducted in order to reveal the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting and will be answered in the analysis. The problem formulation consists of major questions below:

1. How is the setting described in this novel?

2. How does the setting in the novel of The Godfather represent Mario Puzo's life

background?

C. Objectives of the Study

Considering the questions that have been formulated on the problem formulation, the analysis is aiming to identify how the setting is described in the novel. To find the representation of Mario Puzo's life background, the next analysis is to find the relationship between the setting of the novel and the life background of

Mario Puzo from his autobiography. Those two analysis is committed to achieve a deeper understanding about to reveal the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of his novel The Godfather.

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D. Definition of Term

To avoid misunderstanding that may arouse in this thesis and to give a limitation on the discussion, it is necessary to define the terms setting, background, and representation which have been the key concepts of this thesis.

1. Setting

According to C. Hugh Holman, setting is defined as the physical, and sometimes spiritual, background against which the action of a narrative takes place.

Setting also the actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room, the occupation and daily manner of place, for example, epoch in history or season of the year (1986: 468). The definition according C. Hugh Holman seem to be the most applicable for the analysis since the analysis will also deal with the descriptions of setting both place and time and the social condition in The Godfather.

2. Representation

According to Ann Marie Baldonado there is an implied visual

component to these primary definitions. Representations can be clear images,

material reproductions, performances and simulations. Representation can also be

defined as the act of placing or stating facts in order to influence or affect the action

of others. Of course, the word also has political connotations. Politicians are thought

to 'represent' a constituency. They are thought to have the right to stand in the place of

another. So above all, the term representation has a semiotic meaning, in that 5

something is 'standing for' something else. The definitions above seem to be the most applicable for the analysis since the analysis will deal with the representation of

Mario Puzo as the author of The Godfather ( http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Representation.html. March 21st 2010). CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

The Godfather has led many people to criticize and study this work. One of the studies is comparing The Godfather with another work from Philip Milton

Roth Portnoy’s Complaint. Dick Schaap compares those two works through the character in both of the story.

There are strong similarities between and Alexander Portnoy. Neither of them, for instance, wishes to enter his father's line of work. Each of them falls for a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant girl. Of course, there are some differences, too. When Alexander Portnoy's father is frustrated, he gets constipated; when Michael Corleone's father is frustrated, he gets someone killed (www.newyorktimes.com/thegodfather/rev/10945.html. February 3rd 2009).

Schaap tries to compare the character of Michael Corleone in The Godfather and the character of Alexander Portnoy in Portnoy’s Complaint. Both of the characters enter their father’s business and fall in love with a white – Protestant girl that in The

Godfather is represented by Kay Adams “Her name, too, was outlandish to their ears; she called herself Kay Adams” (1969: 10). There are some differences in relation of the family background between Portnoy's Complaint and The Godfather. In The

Godfather the Corleone is Sicilian but in Portnoy’s Complaint the Portnoy family is

Jewish. Another difference is the kind of family business while in The Godfather the business is about gambling, prostitution, or killing somebody

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(www.newyorktimes.com/thegodfather/rev/10945.html. February 3rd 2009). In his analysis Schaap discussed the comparison between two characters in the different work literature. Schaap only focused on the difference of social background that caused difference characteristic between two characters in the literary work but not discussed the real setting or social condition that became the representation of the social condition or setting in the novels.

Another study that used the same work of literature, The Godfather, is the study of character development of Michael Corleone by Yuliana Rahayu. According to Yuliana the character of Michael Corleone in The Godfather is influenced by the

Mafia tradition and the society of Italian immigrants.

Silence is a rule that would not consider the position of the mafia members. All members who made terrible violation will have no excuses. Mafioso who becomes a traitor will punish to death, even though they have a close relationship with the boss. In this thesis the writer put Silence as the first and the basic rules of all. Silence later on will followed by four developed rules (Rahayu : 2005).

In her thesis Yuliana focused on how the character of Michael Corleone is developed by the influence of the family background. In her thesis Yuliana explained about the

Italian mafia tradition and how it affected the character of Michael Corleone. Yuliana only focused on the development character of Michael Corleone and the family tradition in the literary work.

Another study discussed about the symbol in The Godfather which is “the family” that gave the deepest impact on American public. John G. Cawelti explained

“the family” became the central symbol in The Godfather and it changed the 8

paradigm of criminal organization term.

This symbol's influence has virtually changed overnight the American public 's favorite term for a criminal organization. As Puzo develops it, the symbol of the family is the unifying principle of The Godfather. The novel is a tale of family succession, showing the rise of the true son and heir and reaching a climax with his acceptance of the power and responsibilities of Godfather (1976: 53).

Cawelti only discussed about how to embody certain fantasy in a specific cultures such as The Godfather which used Italian mafia culture through symbol, theme, and the formula of the story as the literature of crime without any comparison between the setting and social condition in the novel and the setting in the real setting.

The difference between my thesis and Dick Schaap's study is that Schaap compares two different literary works, Portnoy's Complaint and The Godfather, and I only use one literary work, The Godfather, as the object of the study and try to reveal the representation of the author's life background in the setting element of the novel.

There is a similarity between Rahayu's thesis and my thesis where both of us use The

Godfather as the object of the study. Even though we use the same novel, we have a different discussion in the analysis. Rahayu analyzed the character in the novel and I analyze the setting in the novel to reveal the representation of the author's life background on it. Another difference is the different between Cawelti's study and this thesis. Cawelti discussed about the formula of the story rather than the element of the story.

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B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Setting a. Place

Murphy's Understanding Unseen (1972: 141-147) also explained thoroughly about place in the setting. There are three kinds of place.

1. Familiar Place

A writer may choose to set his story in which he considers is familiar to most of

his readers, either from experience or by close acquaintance. For example

American writer may choose to write about events that take place in New York or

other states in United States.

2. Unfamiliar Place

A writer may choose to set his novel that is likely unfamiliar to many of the

readers of his own nation. For example the American writer may choose to write

about events that take place in India.

3. Imaginary Place

A writer may choose to set his book in an entirely imaginary place which is not

familiar to anyone at all.

William Kenney in his book entitled How To Analyze Fiction stated that setting has elements to compose the setting itself. One of the elements are the actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room that can be categorized as setting of place (1966: 40). 10

b. Occupation and Daily Manner

Hugh Holman and William Harmon in their book entitled A Handbook To

Literature stated some elements in setting and one of the elements is occupation and daily manner of living of the characters (1986: 468). William Kenney also stated the same theory about the elements of setting. Kenney stated that the occupations and modes of day-to-day existence of the characters is one of the elements that composed setting (1966: 40).

c. Time

C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon in their book entitled A Handbook

To Literature stated that setting has elements to compose the setting itself and one of the elements is the time or periods in which the actions takes place, for example epoch in history or scene of the year (1986: 468). Kenney in How To Analyze Fiction also stated that the time in which the action takes place is one of the elements of setting (1966: 40).

Murphy's Understanding Unseen (1972: 141-147) also explained thoroughly about time and place in the setting. There are four kinds of time and three kinds of place.

1. Present Time

A writer may choose to write a book about his own time, about the things that are

happening around him. 11

2. Past Time

A writer may choose to go backward in time, to write about historical events, to

attempt and to light the past time to the reader

3. Future Time

A writer may, in his imagination, take his readers into the future.

4. No Specific Time

A writer may choose to give his readers no indication of time in which the story

takes place. It takes place, as it were, in no time or any time. They are like the old

fairy tales, they happen 'once upon a time'.

Being different from Murphy, Ganette said, that it is quoted in

Nurgiantoro's book, that setting of time has two meanings. It refers to the time when the author wrote the story or the time of the story itself (1995: 33-35). Harvey in

Character and The Novel add society as one of the part of setting in literature.

According to him, social environment in the novel basically refers to the society that is taken mostly in the novel. The social environment shows a social condition of the people who live in there (1965: 56). Society, as do all other aspects of novels, functions as an element that is organized to identify, at least, the part of the novel.

From society, we find a concept or idea that is constructed in the novel (Langland,

1984: 4). From the theories above, the relationship between time, place, and social environment or society is that the description of the setting of place must be attached to the description of the society of the novel at a certain time. Those elements of setting must form a solid unit, in which the the events of the story happened. 12

d. General Environment Of The Characters

C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon in their book entitled A Handbook

To Literature stated that setting has elements to compose the setting itself and one of the elements is the general environment of the characters, for example: religious, moral, mental, social and emotional condition through which the people in the narrative move (1986: 468). William Kenney also stated that the religious, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional environment of the characters (general environment) is one of the elements that composed setting (1966: 40).

C. Mafia in the United States

The start of the development of organized crime start in 1930, a year after the stock market crashed. Organized crime is involved in narcotics distribution in

New York is tautological because narcotics distribution is an organized crime and whoever is involved in it is by definition in organized crime. Most typically, organized crime is defined in ways that emphasize high levels of cooperation among groups of professional criminals. In this way, the category organized crime is viewed as synonymous with the category organized criminals. In popular parlance, for instance, organized crime has been equated with "the mob," "the Mafia" or "The

Syndicate." (www.law.jrank.org/pages/1631/Organized-Crime.html. May 7th 2009).

The Mafia organization made infamous by such films as The Godfather is a relatively new creation. It is the product of 's defeat of a rival 13

faction in the Castellammarese War during the early 1930s in

(www.spiritus-temporis.com/castellammarese-war. May 7th 2009). The

Castellammarese War is the name given to a bloody internal power struggle between two factions of Italian- figures that took place in 1930 and 1931. It culminated in the brief establishment of Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti capi, before he himself was killed and "the Commission" of five mafia families of equal stature was established.

The name of the war is derived from the fact that one side in the conflict consisted, at least at first, of immigrants sent by powerful Sicilian mafioso Don Vito

Cascio Ferro from the vicinity of the town of Castellammare del Golfo in western

Sicily, including , Stefano Magaddino, Joseph Profaci, Joseph Aiello, and the faction's leader, Salvatore Maranzano. Their adversaries, who hailed both from elsewhere in Sicily and adjacent of regions of southern Italy such as Calabria and Campania (particularly Naples) were led by Joe "The Boss" Masseria and also included Al Capone, , Albert Anastasia, , ,

Joe Adonis, and . The Five Families are the five major Italian-

American Mafia crime families which have dominated organized crime in New York

City since the 1930s. The Five Families, under the suggestion of Salvatore

Maranzano and Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano were responsible for the establishment of

The Comission a council which demarcated territory between the previously warring factions and governs La Cosa Nostra activities in the United States. The Five

Families in New York remain as the powerhouse of Mafia in the US 14

(www.associatedcontent.com/article/502871/the_castellammarese_war_the_creation.

May 7th 2009).

Maranzano set himself up as a "boss of bosses," but he did not hold on to his power for very long. That same year, Luciano and Genovese ordered the murder of Maranzano who they believed was plotting to betray them. On that same day, most of Maranzano's followers, 40 in number, were killed. Luciano then made all of the five families equal players in New York. Today, these are the Bonanno, Jackie,

Colombo, Genovese, Lucchese crime families. Luciano's victory over Maranzano ushered in a new era in Mafia activity dominated mostly by those who had been born in this country. This new generation proved that it was just as ruthless as the old and ready to expand into new territory. (www.organized-crime.de/lauhtm01.htm. May 7th

2009).

1. Mafia Tradition

There are several tradition like send a dead fish with something that belongs to someone means that the owner of that thing has been murdered and the dead body is thrown to the sea

(www.americanmafia.com/Cities/New_York_New_Jersey.html. May 7th 2009).

There are also Rules of Conduct in mafia tradition that contains five rules.

First is obedience that means that they should respect their boss and willing to do what the boss asked to them. They can't start a fighting or discussing business until the boss asked them to do so. If they obey this rule the boss will punished them.

Second is loyalty and all members of the particular Family should be loyal to their 15

Family. An attack on any member should be considered an attack on all members.

One Family should respect other Families unless the war between them happens.

Third rule is honor that means the member of the Family must keep their eyes, ears and their mouth shut. When they see or hear something that is not their business they better not to see and hear that. The fourth rule is pride that means that they must be a man of honor. In Sicilian the word mafia is to describe individuals of pride, excellence, grace, and self- confidence. They also have to respect women and the elders. The last rule is silence or Omerta

(www.americanmafia.com/Cities/New_York_New_Jersey.html. May 7th 2009).

Omerta is the root of mafia tradition. The members of the family must not or never have any dealing with authorities under any circumstances. It is good for them to keep the identities and activities of their Family as secret at all costs. The one who betrayed the Family will be punished or ma be killed. Some Sicilians believe that people who can do this Omerta rule is only Sicilian people that is why the important member of the family such as or should be

Sicilian or Italian (www.newmafia2000tripod.com/mafia2000/id77.html. May 7th

2009).

2. Mafia Activities

Cahill in The Urban Reader states that there are six major activities in mafia activities. The first one is the political fix that means obtaining the cooperation of the policemen and the politicians. Nowhere has organized crime subverted more 16

than a tiny minority of public officials. A minority can be enough both to undermine law enforcement and to bend regulations, purchasing procedures and legislation to a shape pleasing to the mob. The second activity is gambling. Gambling is far and away the Mob's biggest illicit income producer. The third is loan – sharking or usury.

It is the Mafia's best investment because the profit is higher than gambling. The fourth is narcotics traffic. Narcotics traffic, especially in heroin, is less lucrative than gambling but still profitable enough. Because of the risks, mafia contracts the retail trade to its sharecroppers, saving for itself the less dangerous and infinitely more profitable role of importer and wholesaler. The fifth is labor racketeering and the sixth is infiltration business (1971: 212).

D. Mario Puzo's Life Background

Mario Puzo is an American novelist and got famous because of his work

The Godfather. The Godfather stayed in the New York Time’s bestseller list for about sixty-seven weeks. Mario Puzo was born on October 15th 1920 into an Italian immigrant family in Hell’s Kitchen New York. His father was a railway track man.

Mario Puzo lived in above railway yards with his family. He has six brothers and sisters. In the World War II Puzo joined US Air Force that stationed in East Asia and

Germany.( www.litweb.net/biography/11/Mario_Puzo.html. Sept 1st 2008).

Mario Puzo literary work, The Godfather is his fourth novel that was published in 1969 when he was forty – nine years old. This book was also adapted in screen and directed by Frank Coppola. Mario Puzo died on July 2nd 1999 in his 17

house in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. He died when he was 78 years old because of heart failure. His last book The Family is completed by Carol Gino who is his longtime companion and published in 2001.

The period of the 1920s, when Puzo was born, was widely regarded as an era of prosperity. Unemployment amongst urban workers remained, on average, under 7 percent. Per capita income grew by a third during a decade of economic expansion that remained relatively unmarred by inflation and recession. The standard of living improved across the board for the employed sector of the economy. Such improvements were measured not only in increases in earnings between 1922 and

1929, but in living conditions. In the 1920s the gap between the City's infrastructural capacity and its population once again widened. This happened because many immigrants came to United States. Especially Italian immigrants and Irish immigrants

(1967: 73).

The crash of stock market and the increase of poverty directly also affected the number of unemployment in the United States. Throughout the decade, the number of jobless never sank below one – sixth of the potential labor force, with the result that a large part of the population was unable to consume and much of it was literary destitute (1968: 871). Poverty increased the number of crime and became the era of organized crime in the United States.

Meanwhile in the 1940s and 1950s after World War II Hollywood was in its greatest condition. Many movies and famous actor and actress made their achievement. There are many Italian American actor and actress that tried to find 18

their fortune and became famous. One of them is who is a singer and actor. There are also many famous American actors such as Clark Gable and actress that became a pin-up-girl during and after the World War II. Such as Greta Garbo,

Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russel, and Jayne Mansfield.

They were loved by millions around the world, men and women alike

(www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9332633. May 7th 2009).

The increase of the population after World War II affected the increase of the number of transportation. There were some famous car brand that developed in

1940s and 1950s and became the favorite. One of the brand is Cadillac that began reaching for US luxury-car leadership in 1930s and clinched it for good in 1950s.

Several developments in 1940s laid the foundation for Cadillac's high 1950s success.

The superb engine make the early 1950s Cadillacs some of the best road cars of that day (www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac//cad1950/cad50s.htm. May 7th 2009). Another favorite car is Chevy. The 1950s saw more significant changes in the Chevrolet than had occurred in any previous decade since 1920s and 1930s. 1950s was a banner year for 1950 Chevrolet sales and all General Motors sales. There was very little foreign competition, the economy was booming and every General Motors automobile manufacturer had a new postwar car designs in their showrooms

(www.50classicchevy.com/history.html. May 7th 2009).

E. Theoretical Framework

Those theories above will help me in finding the Mario Puzo's life 19

background in the setting of The Godfather. To answer first problem formulation, which is to find out how the setting of The Godfather is described, I will use the theory of setting from Holman and Harmon which the actual geographical location, scenery, and physical arrangements, daily manner, general environment of the character, and the description of time in which the actions takes place in the novel are the elements of the setting both time and place. The theory from Holman and

Harmon will help to find the description of the setting in the novel. Murphy's theory also used to answer the first problem. Murphy categorized the kinds of setting of place and setting of time. Murphy's theory will help to categorize the kind of the setting in the novel. Harvey's theory will be used to answer the first problem formulation also. Being similar like Holman and Harmon's theory about setting,

Harvey stated that the social environment shows a social condition of the people who live in there, which is in this case the character who live in the place mentioned in the novel. It will help to find both social environment and social conditions as the elements of the setting. Ganette's theory will be used to answer the first problem formulation which is helping to find the setting of time in the novel.

To answer the second problem formulation, l will use the descriptions of the setting in the novel that has been answered in the first problem formulation. After the setting elements have been analyzed, the next step is to find the relation with the biography of Mario Puzo and the lifetime history when Puzo lived.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

This thesis will analyze a novel entitled The Godfather. This novel is

written by an Italian immigrant author Mario Puzo in 1969. The Godfather was

Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group USA Inc. New

York in 1969. This novel contains 479 pages including 32 chapters. The novel used

for this analysis was published by the same publisher in 1969. Mario Puzo not only

wrote The Godfather but he also wrote some fictions like Dark Arena, Fortunate

Pilgrims, Fools Die, The Fourth K, The Last Don, and Omerta.

The novel The Godfather is about the story of Sicilian Mafia family that represent by Corleone family. Don is the leader of Corleone family that became the strongest family in New York area. The conflict begins when Virgil

Solozzo offers Don Vito Corleone an offer to be his business partner in narcotics business. In his offer, Solozzo will give Corleone family the percentage from the business profit if Corleone family agrees to use their power on government to protect the business. Don Vito Corleone thinks that it is too risky and refuses Solozzo’s offer.

Solozzo is very disappointed and tries to kill Don Vito Corleone. Fortunately Don

Vito Corleone still alive even he got five shoots in his body. This thing makes Sonny

Corleone, the eldest son, wants to make revenge with Solozzo and Tattaglia family who were back up him. Sonny murdered Bruno Tattaglia, the son of Tattaglia family

20 21

that involved, and it makes Solozzo offer some discussion with Corleone family.

Michael Corleone that in the first time did not want to involve in family business also wants to make revenge. Finally Michael killed both Solozzo and the corrupt police officer McCluskey when they were having a discussion. Tattaglia family gives a fight back because the dead of Bruno Tattaglia and it caused the dead of Sonny Corleone.

At last Michael replaced the position of Don in Corleone family and moved the family into Las Vegas.

B. Approach of the Study

To analyze the novel, Biographical approach will be used. This approach is considered to be appropriate to apply in analyzing the representation of Mario Puzo’s background in the setting of The Godfather. Wilfred L. Guerin defines Biographical approach in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature as the approach that sees a literary work chiefly as a reflection of its author’s life and times or the life and times of the characters in the work (1979: 51).

According to Michael Meyer Biographical Approach is an approach to literature which suggests that knowledge of the author’s life experiences can aid in the understanding of his or her work. While biographical information can sometimes complicate one’s interpretation of a work and some formalist critics (such as the New

Critics) disparage the use of the author’s biography as a tool for textual interpretation, learning about the life of the author can often enrich a reader’s appreciation for that author’s work (http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_a.htm 22

March 21st 2010). By using this approach, the representation of Mario Puzo’s life background in the setting of the story can be analyzed.

C. Method of the Study

The method used in conducting the analysis was library research. It means that the data that support the analysis were obtained mostly from some books and references from library. The data from reliable sources in the Internet were also used to add some references. To make thorough analysis, there were some steps to take.

The first step was choosing literary work as the object of the study and then read the novel thoroughly in order to get familiar and understand the story of the literary work that had been chosen. After the process of reading, the next step was choosing the topic and formulating problem formulation.

The second step was finding theories and data that related to the topic and problem formulation that had been chosen before. This step was very important to provide adequate theories and data to support the analysis. It was also necessary to classify the theories and data based on the problem formulation.

The next step was to arrange the data and the theories that had been classified in a systematic way to make the application easier. After the arrangements were ready then it was the time to apply the theories and the data in the analysis and finally generated the conclusion of the analysis.

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this chapter the answer to the question in the problem formulation will be found. The analysis will be divided into two parts. The first is the description of the setting based on the literary work itself. The second part is the analysis of the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of his novel The

Godfather. In this part, the relationship between the setting in the literary work and the author's life background will be discussed.

A. Setting in The Godfather

The answer of the first problem formulation will be based on the setting in the novel of The Godfather. I will focus on setting of place, setting of time, and the daily manner and general environment of the character as the elements to compose the setting.

1. Setting of Place

Hugh Holman and William Harmon stated that setting has elements to compose the setting itself. Such as the actual geographical location, scenery, and physical arrangements (1986: 468). Some of the setting of places that will be discussed are the descriptions of the major setting of place in the novel. Some places are in specific area, such as in a house or tenements.

23 24

a. Long Beach House

In The Godfather there are several major setting of places and one of the place is Long Beach House. The description of Long Beach house is in the beginning of the story with the wedding of Don Corleone's daughter. The setting is on the wedding of Constanzia Corleone, Don Vito Corleone's daughter, in his Long Beach home. It can be seen that there was a wedding in Long Beach home from this description:

Now on this great day, his daughter's wedding day, Don Vito Corleone stood in the doorway of his Long Beach home to greet his guests, all of them known, all of them trusted (1969: 8).

Long Beach is out of New York district and needs sometimes to reach Long Beach from New York. Some of the guests of the wedding is from New York. It can be seen from the statement below about the location of Long Beach:

And so on that Saturday morning the friends of Don Corleone streamed out of New York City to do him honor (1969: 7).

There are some description in the third setting of the novel. The wedding is being celebrated in the outdoor and like a garden party. Everyone brings cream-colored envelope and many of the people who helped to prepare and served the guests are

Don Vito Corleone's friends. The situation can be seen from this description:

They bore cream-colored envelopes stuffed with cash as bridal gifts, no checks...... Even the people performing festal services were his friends. The bartender was an old comrade whose gift was all the wedding liquors and his own expert skills. The waiters were the friends of Don Corleone's son. The food on the garden picnic tables had been cooked by the Don's 25

wife and her friends and the gaily festooned one-acre garden itself had been decorated by the young girl-chums of the bride (1969: 7-8).

The garden is large and some of the foods are homemade and placed in the picnic table. There are waiters that stand around the party to serve the guests and a bar with a bartender who is ready to serve the guests. The garden is located behind the house and there is a quartet band that playing the music.

But now in the garden behind the house, a four-piece band began to play. All the guests had arrived. Don Corleone put the intruders out of his mind and led his two sons to the wedding feast (1969: 12).

The guests are hundreds and some of them are dancing with the music from the quartet band. The wedding is an Italian style wedding with the bride and the groom sat in the vendor. Puzo described the arrangements and the situation in Long Beach home like this:

There were, now, hundreds of guests in the huge garden, some dancing on the wooden platform bedecked with flowers, others sitting at long tables pilled high with spicy food and gallon jugs of black, homemade wine. The bride, Connie Corleone, sat in the splendor at a special raised table with her groom, the maid of honor, bridesmaid and ushers. It was a rustic setting in the old Italian style (1969: 12).

In this Long Beach house there is a kitchen where Don Corleone's wife and Sonny

Corleone's wife prepared the wedding cake for the bride with the other women who helped them. It can be seen that there is a kitchen in Long Beach house from the description below:

Seeing these, Sonny Corleone made his way to the bride's table and sat down beside young Lucy Mancini, the maid of honor. They were safe. His wife was in the kitchen putting the last touches on the serving of the wedding cake (1969: 14). 26

Another room is a corner room near the garden for Don Corleone's office. From the window on that room people can see the wedding party in the garden. There is a bookshelf on the wall that most of the book are law books and a huge desk where Don

Corleone sits behind the desks. Still on the room there is a cigar and beverages corner to put some beverages like when Don Corleone offers a drink to Nazorine. There is also a French door that can go directly out into the garden like what described in the novel.

From behind the closed window of Don Corleone's “office”, a slightly raised corner room. Thomas Hagen watched the wedding party in the festooned garden. The walls behind him were stacked with law books (1969: 15).

The house is in the housing complex where there are several houses in the same area that belonged to Don Vito Corleone. There are eight houses in Don Vito's housing complex. All of the houses are occupied by his family members and also friends and it is mentioned in the novel.

All Eight houses were owned by Don Corleone. At the mouth of the mall the two houses on either side were rented by family retainers with their own families and star boarders, single men who lived in the basement apartments (1969: 83)

Don Vito also gave three rent- free houses to his retired friends that make the housing complex is kind of harmless- looking for his own house. The rest three houses are formed like a half circle. as the consigliere of Don Vito Corleone stayed in one of the house. The eldest son Sonny Corleone is also lived in one of the three houses. Don Vito Corleone lived in the smallest house and not too luxurious to be an 27

impregnable fortress. All of the house are equipped with the floodlights to make it easily to know if someone lurks in and it is mentioned in the novel.

All eight houses were equipped with floodlights which bathed the grounds around them and made the mall impossible to lurk in. Sonny went across the street to his father's house and let himself inside with his own key (1969:83).

There is a kitchen in the first floor and the Don's office in the corner room. The second floor is Don Vito Corleone's bedroom. In the Don's office there is a special phone that listed in a fake identity like the description below:

He went into the huge corner room that was his father's office and took the special phone from a locked cabinet box. The phone had been especially installed and was listed under a phony name and a phony address (1969:83-84).

There is a small wall safe at the Don's office where he put the indexed book that he wrote all of the name of the people that asked for help to him and as the payback they should give a favor to Don Vito Corleone as a friendship. Puzo mentioned about the small wall safe in the sentences below:

He went over to a small wall safe and unlocked it. From it he took an indexed book bound in blue leather. He opened it to the T's until he found the entry he was looking for. It read, “Ray Farrel $5,000 Christmas Eve.” This was followed by a telephone number (1969: 84).

It can be concluded from the description of the house that Don Corleone's Long

Beach house is a large house with a huge garden behind the house. There are several rooms mentioned in the novel. The first room is kitchen where the wives prepare the wedding cake, the second room is corner room which is also became the office of

Don Corleone where he met people who asked for help. It has a huge desk where Don 28

Corleone sat behind and there is a book shelf where some of the books are the book of law that belongs to Tom Hagen who is the consligiere of Don Corleone. It also can be seen that Long Beach house is also Don Vito's head office since Don Vito is doing business matters in this house.

b. Long Island House

Long Island is where Don Vito Corleone lived until he died. The difference between Long Beach house and Long Island is that Long Beach house became the headquarter of Don Vito Corleone's business. Puzo gave the information about this setting in the setting of Long Beach home.

The father of the bride, Don Vito Corleone, never forgot his old friends and neighbors though he himself now lived in a huge house on Long Island (1969: 7).

Don Vito Corleone came to his daughter's wedding party in Long Beach home where he used to live in that house. Puzo did not explain much about the setting of the Long

Island home. In The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone wanted to buy the house in Long

Island since he still lived in an apartment in Bronx. It can be seen from the sentences below:

The family had long since moved to an apartment house in . Don Corleone was considering buying a house on Long Island, but he wanted to fit this in with other plans he was formulating (1969:232).

Finally Don Vito Corleone bought a huge house in Long Island after bought the Long

Beach mall. He spent the time after retired in Long Island. 29

c. Hell's Kitchen

The Third setting is Hell's Kitchen, New York. Hell's Kitchen was where young Don Vito Corleone lived. Most of the neighborhood were Italian immigrants such as Abbandandos that later on became his consigliere, Clemenza and Tessio that later on became his . It is mentioned that Young Vito Corleone work in grocery store of Abbandandos.

Young Vito went to work in the Abbandandos grocery store on Ninth Avenue in New York's Hell's Kitchen (1969: 203).

Young Vito Corleone lived in a tenement on Tenth Avenue that located only a few blocks from Abbandandos' grocery store after he got married with an Italian girl freshly arrived from Sicily. Puzo gave the description where Young Vito Corleone lived in Hell's Kitchen in the novel.

They settled down in a tenement on Tenth Avenue, near Thirty – Fifth street, only a few blocks from where Vito worked, and two years later were blessed with their first child, Santino, called by all his friends Sonny because of his devotion to his father (1969: 203 – 204).

The area where young Vito Corleone lived is much more like an immigrant neighborhood that came from the middle and lower class. From one building to another tenement building are separated by the open air shaft that can be seen from window in the kitchen. This situation can be seen from the description below:

One evening as Vito was having supper with his family there was a knock on the window that led to the open air shaft that separated them from the 30

next building (1969: 205).

Clemenza's tenement apartment is across the open air shaft from Vito's apartment.

Vito's apartment consist of one bathroom, one bedroom, living room, and kitchen.

The apartment is not a big apartment. It can be seen from the comparison between

Vito's apartment and an apartment where Clemenza and Vito Corleone stole a fine rug for Vito's living room. It can be seen in the sentences below:

Thirty minutes later they were cutting the rug to fit the living room of Vito Corleone's apartment. They had enough left over for the bedroom (1969: 207).

We can see that the rug that had been stolen from an apartment house with two marble pillars (luxurious apartment) that fit for its living room is not fit for Vito Corleone's living room and Vito Corleone still had enough left over for another room. It shows that the size of Vito's living room is smaller than the luxurious apartment. Vito's tenement is in the area of Italian neighborhood. It can be seen when Vito Corleone joined Clemenza and Tessio to hijack trucks of silk dresses after the trucks were loaded up at the factory on Thirty - First Street and sell it to an Italian wholesaler and sell it door-to-door to Italian families that looking for a bargain, whose daughters could never be able to afford such fine apparel in the neighborhood (1969: 207). It means that Vito lived in Italian neighborhood because many Italian familes lived in the neigborhood. Vito's apartment is in the upstairs we can see that when Fanucci came to Vito's apartment to get his money.

Vito let Fanucci go down the stairs and out the building. The street was thronged with witnesses to show that he had left the Corleone home safely 31

(1969: 214). There is also a rooftop above Vito's apartment that can be reached by the stairs. Vito could walk across the rooftop and he could go to the backyard through the fire escape.

Vito Corleone left his apartment and ran up the stairs to the roof. He traveled over the square block of roofs and descended down the steps of an empty loft building fire escape that left him in the backyard. He kicked the back door open and went through the front door. Across the street was Fanucci's tenement apartment house (1969: 214).

It can be seen that the tenement's building has a backyard, and there is another apartment building across the street. It means that the area where Vito lived is the center of living area where many tenements were built.

The village of tenements extended only as far west as Tenth Avenue. Eleventh Avenue was mostly warehouses and lofts rented by firms who shipped by New York central railroad and wanted across to the freight yards that honeycombed the area from Eleventh Avenue to the Hudson River (1969: 214-215).

Over all, Hell's Kitchen is an area in New York and the place where young Vito lived in America. Vito Corleone lived in the middle-low class tenement. And most of the people who rented the tenements are immigrants. Vito Corleone lived in Tenth

Avenue in a small apartment with one bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. In the Eleventh Avenue, most of the buildings are warehouses and lofts that rented by firms.

d. Corleone, Sicily

The fourth setting of place is Corleone in Sicily. This setting of place appeared when Michael Corleone was on his exile after the murder of Solozzo and 32

Captain McCluskey. Corleone is the town in Palermo Province in Sicily.

Dresses in old clothes and a billed cap, Michael had been transported from the ship docked at Palermo to the interior of the Sicilian island, to the very heart of a province controlled by the mafia, where the local capo Mafioso was greatly indebted to his father for some past service (1969: 345).

The name of Corleone had been taken by Don Vito when he emigrated to America.

Palermo has a bay where the ships are docked. The ship that brought Michael to

Sicily was also docked at Palermo.

Puzo described the beauty of Corleone in Sicily when Michael on his long walks. Orange is the commodity of Sicily and that is why when Michael took a walk he could see many orange orchards that make a shady cavern place through the countryside.

On his long walks the most striking thing in Michael’s eyes was the magnificent beauty of the country; he walked through the orange orchards that formed shady deep caverns through the countryside with their ancient conduits splashing water out of the fanged mouths of great snake stones carved before Christ (1969: 349).

Corleone is used to be controlled by Roman empire in the past. We can see it from the style of the ruined building that can be seen near the orchards when Michael took a walk. Puzo described the ruined building with a Roman empire's style in the novel.

Houses built like ancient Roman villas, with huge marble portals and great vaulted rooms, falling into ruins or inhabited by stray sheep ( 1969: 349).

Corleone has fertile soil and it makes many trees grow green and it looks like an emerald necklace when we can see the trees on the desert landscape.

On the horizon the bony hills shone like picked bleached bones piled high. Gardens and fields, sparkly green, decorated the desert landscape like bright 33

emerald necklaces (1969: 349).

When Michael took a walk in the country roads he still can see donkeys pulling carts that could not be seen in the United States. Michael had expected a barren land because of the legendary poverty of Sicilians but the fact is that the island is rich and beautiful.

They walked along dusty country roads passing donkeys pulling gaily painted carts. The land was filled with pink flowers, orange orchards, groves of Almond and Olive trees, all blooming. That had been one of surprises. Michael had expected a barren land because of the legendary poverty of Sicilians. And yet he had found it a land of gushing plenty, carpeted with flowers scented by lemon blossoms (1969: 353).

Michael Corleone in his walks saw the beautiful land where it filled with pink flowers, orange orchards, almond and olive trees which are blooming. He also said that Corleone is like The Garden of Eden. He wondered why people left the island and emigrated to the United States.

Puzo set his story in many places, but Long Island, Long Beach, Hell's

Kitchen, and Corleone are the major setting of place in The Godfather. Those places can be categorized by using the theory from Murphy. According to Murphy in

Understanding Unseen there are three kinds of the setting of place based on the knowledge of the readers (1972: 141-147). In The Godfather, Puzo who is an

American writer used the familiar place and unfamiliar place in his novel. According to Murphy familiar place means the writer choose to set his story in which he considers the place is familiar to most of his readers. Puzo as an American writer chose to set his story in some place in the United States such as Long Island, Long 34

Beach, and Hell's Kitchen that familiar for American readers. Puzo also decided to set the unfamiliar setting of place in one of the chapter in his novel that related to the past story of his character. Puzo chose Corleone in Sicily which is unfamiliar for his

American readers.

2. Daily Manner and Occupation

Kenney stated that one of the element of setting is daily manner and occupation. It can be seen from what the characters do for a living and how it works for their daily life (1966: 40). There is different era and place in the novel that brought different daily manner and occupation in each era and place. a. A Better Living and The Structural Crime Organization in the United States after World War II

After World War II the economy in the United States was developed into a better condition. The immigrants in America succeeded to earn their own living, most of them earn their own living from their own business, for example Amerigo

Bonasera who has an undertaker business, Nazorine who has a bakery shop , etc

(1969: 3 – 6). It can be seen that the United States gave a chance to immigrants to fulfill their American dream. The soldiers who went to war came back to his hometown and went on their live, for example like Michael Corloene. Showbiz industry developed with the increase of film production and the demand of a pin-up actress during the World War II. Hollywood showbiz gave an opportunity to 35

immigrants to have a role in their industry. For example is Johnny Fontane who became an actor and a singer in Hollywood showbiz (1969: 4 – 5).

The underworld mafia also developed and became an organized crime structure after the great war in 1933 that changed the whole structure of Mafia into big five families (1969: 227). Mafia had a connection with the police officer, for the example the connection between Solozzo and Captain McCluskey (1969: 147), judge, media, and even more senator. They controlled oil business, gambling, prostitution, and narcotics. They have a structure on a family. In Corleone's family the head of the family is Don Vito Corleone and the consigliere or the counselor is Tom Hagen as the receiver of the Don Vito's command. Don Vito Corleone himself never give an order to the button men or the member of the mafia family itself. He always gives the order through the consigliere. The captain of the mafia member in Corleone's family is

Tessio and Clemenza. Each of them has many button men or soldier and controlled different area as the order of the head of the family (1969: 223).

b. Mafia's Control in Occupation after World War II and Marriage Tradition in

Corleone

There are some examples in daily manner and occupation aspect in

Corleone. In Sicily especially Corleone, profession is not about quality, talent, or achievement. Profession could be a gift. The example of this case is when Dr. Taza who is the uncle of a Don in Corleone offered to treat Michael Corleone's smashed 36

jaw. Michel refused to be treated because he knew that Dr. Taza did not understand about medic at all.

Dr. Taza was perhaps the worst worst physician in Sicily. Dr. Taza read everything but his medical literature, which he admitted he could not understand. He had passed his medical exams through the good offices of the most important Mafia chief in Sicily who had made a special trip to Palermo to confer with Taza's professor about what grades they should give him. And this too showed how the Mafia in Sicily was cancerous to the society it inhabited. Merit meant nothing. Talent meant nothing. Work meant nothing. The Mafia Godfather gave you your profession as a gift (1969:348).

This example can show that the power of Mafia affected the way of life of people in

Corleone. It shows that the daily manner of the character in Corlone is related to the general environment of the setting. The effects of Mafia control in Corleone later will be explained in the general environment of the setting.

Another example in occupation aspect is that the shepherds in Sicily could act as the Mafia hired killers. They did this because they could earn money from this side job (1969: 349). To protect Michael as a stranger in Corleone, Don Tommasino hired two shepherds as Michael's bodyguards. The shepherds always carried their lupara or Sicilian shotgun which was the Mafia's favorite weapon. A pagliaio thief is the another example of occupation aspect. People who wanted to have an extra money became a pagliaio thief or a thief who stole the farming tools that were put in a straw-thatched hut built in the fields by the farmers (1969:351-352). Since Corleone is a fertile land and many orchards are grown in Corleone, most of the people in

Corleone worked as a farmer. 37

The control of the mafia in Corleone gave an effect to the society. At the first time Mafia became the secret organization that fight against the rulers who had crushed the country and the citizen for centuries. People prefer to ask for help to

Mafia rather than the police officer. Because of that they obeyed the rule of Omerta which is the rule of silent. Even in daily life they obeyed this rule.

And the Mafia cemented its power by originating the law of silence, the Omerta. In the countryside of Sicily a stranger asking directions to the nearest town will not even receive the courtesy of an answer.....Omerta became the religion of the people. A woman whose husband has been murdered would not tell the police the name of her husband's murderer, not even of her child's murderer. Her daughter's raper (1969: 347).

People thought they could not get justice from government's authority so they always turned to a local Mafia for help in every emergency.

In marriage there are some customs in Corleone. Some men in Sicily got a thunderbolt before they get married. Thunderbolt means the feeling of crush in a woman that never felt before at a glance and it feels like want to possess the woman

(1969: 354). It was nothing like the love that Michael Corleone had for his girlfriend in America, a love based on objective consideration like sweetness, intelligence, or life background. The way grown up men and women have a date in Corleone is different from men and women in America. A man should talk to the woman's father to ask permission for approaching the daughter before they have a date. In Corleone when a man gives a golden jewelery to a woman it means that the man has a serious intentions on the woman.

It was a heavy gold chain to be worn as a necklace, and it awed them not 38

only because of its obvious value but because a gift of gold in this society was also a statement of the most serious intentions (1969: 363).

There is also a rule that women and men can not have a physical contact until they get married. For example is when Michael and Apollonia try to find a chance to have a physical contact when they took a walk even it is not allowed.

They could not see the mother behind them smiling because her daughter was a mountain goat and had not stumbled on this path since she was an infant in diapers. And smiling because this was the only way this young man was going to get his hands on her daughter until the marriage (1969: 364).

From the details above about the daily manner and occupation in Corleone can be seen that the major occupation in Corleone is as a farmer because Corleone is an agricultural town in Sicily. It can be seen from the physical description in the setting of place. Corleone is also a town that is controlled by Mafia and it gave some effects in occupation aspect and the daily manner of the characters. Another daily manner of the people in Corleone is that they still keep their tradition.

c. Middle Class Life in Hell's Kitchen

As one of the elements of the setting, daily manner and occupation in the novel also important to help to identify the setting (1966: 40). According to Harvey, social environment in the novel basically refers to the society that is taken mostly in the novel. The social environment shows a social condition of the people who live in there (1965: 56). Puzo not only described the social environment through the setting of place but also through the occupation and the daily manner of the people's 39

character in Hell's Kitchen. There are some kind of occupations that can be found in

Hell's Kitchen New York in 1919 – 1939. Hell's Kitchen is the immigrants area where many tenement building and shops are built. Some of the people in Hell's Kitchen run a shop for example like Abbandando that run a grocery store. Some of the people worked as a railway track man that most of them are Irish and American people

(1969: 205). When the war ended the work become slow and the workers only get a few days' pay a month. Most of the people in Eleventh Avenue of Hell's Kitchen New

York worked as bachelor trainmen, yard workers, and the cheapest prostitutes (1969:

215).

In the neighborhood there is also an offshoot of the mafia which extorted money from families and storekeepers like Abbandando. The mafia threat them with a physical violence. There are also criminal fellows in the neighborhood who illegally sold Italian lottery and ran gambling games in their homes (1969: 204). Don Vito

Corleone himself used to be a truck driver for Abbandando's grocery store before he lost his job and worked as a railway track man. At that time skilled automobile drivers were at a premium and that is why Clemenza and Tessio invited Don Vito

Corleone as a driver to hijacked a truck of silk dresses to be sold in Italian immigrants neighborhood (1969: 207).

The daily manner of people in Tenth Avenue and Eleventh Avenue are really different. People in Tenth Avenue, especially the women, like to gather with the neighbor carrying their own chair and gossiping. People in Eleventh Avenue prefer to 40

sit in beer taverns and guzzling their pay. From the description of people's occupation and the daily manner of the people in Hell's Kitchen above, it can be seen that Hell's

Kitchen especially in Tenth Avenue until Eleventh Avenue are a middle class society

3. Setting of Time

Hugh Holman and William Harmon stated that one of the elements of setting is the description of time in which the actions takes place in the novel

(1986:468). The setting of time in The Godfather is started from the 1910s until the

1950s. The novel divided into some chapters, started from the reign of Don Vito

Corleone until the reign of Don Michael Corleone who replaced the position of his father. The setting of time in the 1910s can be seen in the chapter where Don Vito

Corleone came as an immigrant in United States and started to build his own family.

Clemenza and Tessio needed Vito to drive since they knew he chauffeured the Abbandando grocery store delivery truck. In 1919, skilled automobile drivers were at a premium (1969: 207).

The evidence of the setting of time in 1910 can be seen from World War I that has been mentioned in The Godfather. World War I was happening at that time and the economic condition was going down. Many immigrants also came from abroad to the

United States to find a new life and earn money. World War I also brought an effect in imported olive oil that became scarce (1969: 204-205).

Puzo also mentioned some historical events in The Godfather to show the setting of time that started from 1910s until 1950s. One of the historical events that 41

mentioned to show the setting of time is the great war of the underworld mafia. In

1930s the great war of the underworld happened in New York. This war started when

Don Vito Corleone offered an equal partnership to Salvatore Maranzano who later supported by Al Capone. The refusal of Maranzano caused the great war in the 1930s.

The great Al Capone was Maranzano's friend and he had his own organization, his own men, plus a huge war chest. He would not brook this upstart whose reputation was more that of a Parliamentary debater than a true Mafioso. Maranzano's refusal touched off the great war of 1933 which was to change the whole structure of the underworld in New York City (1969: 227).

Don Corleone tried to make Al Capone out of this business because Al Capone's area was on Chicago. This tactic also made Don Corleone's power equal with Maranzano's power. In the same year, the faithful capo of Don Vito Corleone killed

Capone's gunmen brutally. In few days later Capone sent a word that he would not interfere the business between Don Vito Corleone and Maranzano. Then finally on

New Year's Eve of 1933 Don Vito Corleone made a deal with Marnzano's lieutenants to betray Maranzano. Maranzano with a full of half-chewed bread was riddled with bullets and the war was over (1969: 230). The result after the great war in 1930s made a different structure in Mafia's structure. There became five powerful families in New

York and one of the family is Corleone's family. Puzo again mentioned a famous mafia leader name in The Godfather to show the setting of time that set from 1910s until 1950s.

Another historical event that has been mentioned in The Godfather is

World War II. This historical event is to show the setting of time in the story. It is 42

stated in The Godfather that in 1939 World War II broke out and United States joined the conflict in 1941. This setting of time can be seen from the condition of that time.

For the example is when Corleone family had a hand in supplying black-market OPA food stamps, gasoline stamps, even travel priorities that very rare at that time and made it as assets that can be sold (1969: 236). Puzo also gave the picture of a soldier in the World War II through Michael Corleone that can be considered as the evidence of the condition in 1930s. The third son of Don Vito Corleone, Michael Corleone, volunteered for the Marine Corps and fought over the Pacific Ocean and became a captain. In 1944 Michael's picture was printed in Life magazine. Finally in early 1945

Michael was discharged to recover from a disabling wound and entered college

(1969: 11).

The setting of time go forward until 1950s when Michael became a Don and married with Kay Adams. Michael replaced the position of his father as the Don of Corleone family.

Michael smiled at his brother. “You're looking pretty good too. Kay would have come out this time, but she's carrying another kid and she has the baby to look after (1969: 410).

Kay Adams has delivered her first son and then she would have a second kid in two years (1969: 420). Puzo didn't mention the exact time but from the story itself that it can be concluded that the setting of time is approximately 2 years from 1947 when

Michael was getting married in New England that means 1949. The death of Don Vito

Corleone also can show the setting of time. 43

The boy raced away to call his father. Michael Corleone and some men at the mall gate ran to the garden and found the Don lying prone, clutching handfuls of earth. They lifted the Don up and carried him to shade of his stone-flagged patio (1969: 440).

The boy is Michael's first son that approximately 5 – 8 years old because he could run away to call for help when he knew his grandfather needed help. It can be concluded that the death of Don Vito Corleone is 5 until 8 years from 1947 that means 1950s.

According to Murphy there are 4 kinds of setting time. There are present time, past time, future time, and no specific time (1972: 141-147). Based on the year when Mario Puzo published The Godfather in 1969

(www.litweb.net/biography/11/Mario_Puzo.html. Sept 1st 2008), the setting time in the novel is included past time setting which the author go backward to 1910s until

1950s. Being different from Murphy, Ganette classified the time into two types which are the time when the author wrote the story or the time of the story itself (1995: 33-

35). Based on the year of the book has been published, the types of the time setting is the time of the story itself because Puzo set the setting time in the story from 1910s until 1950s which means years before 1969.

4. General Environment

General environment is one of the elements of the setting. Kenney also stated that general environment can be the religious, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional environment of the characters (1966: 40). Puzo created a different environment in each of the setting of place but in general all of the characters lived in 44

the same social environment which is in Italian family environment. a. Moral Values in Family

The important thing to consider in Corleone family is a family. Each of the family member respects each other. This aspect is related to a moral value that is one of the elements in general environment. The first Son in the family will replace the position of his father after his father died. The children respect both their parents.

When something happened to his father the children will make a revenge to people who tried to threat their father. For example is when Don Vito Corleone was shoot and both Michael Corleone and Sonny Corleone tried to make a revenge to his father's enemy. Another example that showed how they respect each other is when

Connie Corleone was having domestic violence from her husband and Sonny

Corleone came to her husband and promised to kill him if he did it once again to his sister (1969: 259-260).

Each of the family should respect another family. Each of the five mafia families respects each other and tries to keep the peace between them, but it will be different when it comes to a revenge. For the example is when Corleone family make a revenge to Tattaglia family because Tattaglia family tried to kill Don Vito Corleone.

Another family doesn't want to take a part in this revenge because this revenge is only between two families.

Don Vito also respects Tom Hagen like his own son but Don Vito always reminds

Tom Hagen to never forget his own parents. This reason makes Tom Hagen still use 45

his family's name after his own name rather than use Corleone's name after his own name. Don Vito is more like Tom's guardian but not a father. He gave Tom an appropriate affection by not mean to replace the position of Tom's father (1969: 48).

b. The Importance of Education in Corleone Family and Women's Education

After World War II

In intellectual aspect Don Vito Corleone considered to how important education is. He wanted his children have a good education in a better school and mix with better companions.

The Don sighed. “Well, then I can't talk to you about how you should behave. Don't you want to finish school, don't you want to be a lawyer? Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks.” (1969: 231).

When Sonny Corleone wanted to be involved in his father's business Don Vito

Corleone insisted him to go to college and become a lawyer. Don Vito Corleone also treated his another two own sons and Tom Hagen with this point of view. Don Vito sent Tom Hagen to college and law school.

It was the boy's decision to go to law school after college. He had heard Don Corleone say once ,”A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” Meanwhile, much to the annoyance of their father, Sonny and Freddie insisted on going into the family business after graduation from high school. Only Michael had gone on to college.... (1969: 47-48).

Don Vito believes that educated people can earn money more than the uneducated people because they use their knowledge and their brain to get a bigger chance to find 46

a good living. This point of view might be related to the past of Don Vito Corleone.

He didn't have any chance to continue his education since he came to America to save his own life from the Corleone's mafia that tried to kill him. He had to work to earn his own living. Don Vito didn't want his children can't get a good education like him.

After World War II not many women can graduate from a college. They usually get married after they graduated from high school.

After he passed the bar exam, Hagen married to start his own family. The bride was a young Italian girl from New Jersey, rare at that time for being a college graduate (1969: 48).

At that time women started to have an equal education degree with men. For the example is Hagen's wife and Kay Adams. Hagen's wife is a college graduated and

Kay Adams is in the same college with Michael Corleone in Dartmouth College in

Hanover, New Hampshire.

c. Religious Aspect in Corleone Family

In religious aspect Corleone family is a catholics family but only the women in the family who are strictly Catholics. Mrs. Corleone always goes to the church not only on Sundays but also in every morning. She did it for her husband's soul because he never goes to church. Don Vito will not allow his son's girlfriend to stay at his house together until they get married, for this matter Michael are trying not to make

Kay pregnant until they get married even they have slept together. Corleone family still follow the rule in their religion like held the Confirmation ceremony and not 47

having sex and taking food from midnight on before receiving Holy Communion

(1969: 474-475).

Being different from Corleone family, Kay's family came from a respectable

Protestants family in New Hampshire. Her parents are old-fashioned New England

Yankees. Her father is a pastor of the town Baptist church but had a reputation in religious circles as a scholar (1969: 243). Kay also never tells her parents about

Michael because she is afraid that her parents will not agree with their relationship.

Her parents didn't know that Kay has slept with Michael as a man and wife.

This difference comes up after Kay get married with Michael and entered

Corleone family. Michael himself never bother the religious-difference but Michael's mother always offers Kay to convert into Catholics. Finally Kay converts into

Catholics like what her mother in-law has suggested (1969: 421).

d. Social Environment in the United States and Corleone, Sicily

The social environment that can be seen in the story is different from time to time and place. Puzo described the social condition in the United States and Corleone,

Sicily. In the United States the social condition is developing from 1910s until 1950s.

When the World War I happened the social condition of the people in the United

States was going down. The economic recession brought poverty to all people in the

United States. Meanwhile the underworld Mafia was going wealthy. The high level of crime is one of the effects of The Great Depression era at that time. Being different 48

from other people, the condition of Don Vito Corleone, for the example, was going better. Mafia built a connection with the Congress lawyers even judges so they could controlled OPA food stamps, gasoline stamps, and travel priorities.

The Great Depression increased the power of Vito Corleone. And indeed it was about that time he came to be called Don Corleone. Everywhere in the city, honest men begged for honest work in vain. Proud men demeaned themselves and their families to accept official charity from a contemptuous officialdom (1969: 225).

After the World War I was over the great war between mafia families in New York happened. The great war of underworld mafia in 1933 also increased the murder rate in New York. Each of family in New York tried to defeat each other by killing the gun men of other family. In 1937 peace and harmony reigned in New York except for minor accidents, minor misunderstandings that sometimes fatal (1969: 234).

Not so long after the great war between mafia families ended World War II happened all over the world. Everyone wanted to take apart in the war and became the honorable soldier for their country. Michael Corleone was one of the man who wanted to take apart in the World War II. It had a different condition like when the

World War I happened. The United States was not going down in a bad economic condition. Showbiz business was developing at that time and created many famous actress and actors. Those celebrities took apart in entertaining the soldier who fought in the war. This social condition was developing until 1950s. Long Beach and Long

Islands became a good area for developing a property business. Las Vegas was also becoming to be a crowded area for people who tried to find their opportunities in a 49

new prosperous area.

Corleone was a slow-developing area and it was different from the United

States condition at that time. Corleone is the place of the mafia origin. This town is controlled by mafia. The number of the Mafia that stronger than the government affected the high crime rate and became the town that had the highest murder rate in the world. At the first time Mafia became the secret organization that fight against the rulers who had crushed the country and the citizen for centuries. People prefer to ask help to Mafia rather than the government's police. Mafia is their protector not the government. Mafia became the illegal arm of the rich and even became the support helper of the legal and political structure (1969: 347). The power became cancerous because people in Corleone accepted the Mafia itself as their protector and obeyed the

Mafia's rules like obeyed a religion.

B. The Representation of Mario Puzo's Life Background in the Setting

To answer the second problem, the focus will be on the relationship between the setting in The Godfather and the background of the author Mario Puzo. After analyzing the setting of The Godfather the next step is to find the connection between

Puzo's life background in every aspect and the elements of the setting of The

Godfather. Puzo's life background not represents in all of the setting elements. There are some representations of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of the novel that have been accumulated from all of the analysis in the elements of the setting. 50

There are five representations from many aspects of Mario Puzo's life background that can be seen in the setting of The Godfather.

1. An American Born in Italian Immigrant Family

The story of the novel is about the Italian-American Mafia in New York. The origin of the mafia itself came from Italy that called Mafioso. The tradition of the mafia was brought by Italian immigrants that came to the America to earn a better living. The novel not only tells about the mafia activities but also the daily manner of the Italian family in the America. Puzo also described about the Italian immigrants neighborhood in New York in the setting of place, Hell's Kitchen. Hell's Kitchen was where young Don Vito Corleone lived. Most of the neighborhood were Italian immigrants such as Abbandandos that later on became his consigliere, Clemenza and

Tessio that later on became his caporegimes. Don Vito is an Italian immigrant but all of his children are American born.

The main story about Italian Mafia in New York that at first came from the

Italian immigrants that came to United States and later the Italian immigrant's children becomes American born is related to the life background of Mario Puzo.

Mario Puzo is an American novelist and got famous because of his work The Godfather. The Godfather stayed in the New York Time’s bestseller list for about sixty-seven weeks. Mario Puzo was born on October 15th 1920 into an Italian immigrant family in Hell’s Kitchen New York (www.litweb.net/biography/11/Mario_Puzo.html. Sept 1st 2008).

Puzo is also an American-born son from Italian immigrant family. Both of his parents are Italians. He also lived in Italian immigrants neighborhood when he was a child. 51

The childhood experience as the son of Italian immigrant that born in United States gave an advantage on creating the story of The Godfather.

2. Puzo's Childhood in Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood

Hell's Kitchen New York is one of the setting of place in The Godfather.

Hell's Kitchen is where Don Vito Corleone has lived when he was young. Hell's

Kitchen is also the place where Don Vito Corleone started his destiny as the

Godfather of a mafia family. Puzo could describe the physical arrangements in detail and the daily manner of the characters in the Hell's Kitchen. In the setting of Hell's

Kitchen, Puzo not only described about the tenement in details but he also could show the reader about the social condition in Hell's Kitchen in 1920s. How Puzo described the tenement in details can be seen in the description below:

Vito Corleone left his apartment and ran up the stairs to the roof. He traveled over the square block of roofs and descended down the steps of an empty loft building fire escape that left him in the backyard. He kicked the back door open and went through the front door. Across the street was Fanucci's tenement apartment house (1969: 214).

Puzo described the tenement area in details as if he knows the tenement area. Puzo also described the condition in Hell's Kitchen and the daily manner of the people in

Hell's Kitchen. Puzo mentioned that in the neighborhood there is also an offshoot of the mafia which extorted money from families and storekeepers. The mafia threat them with a physical violence. There are also criminal fellows in the neighborhood who illegally sold Italian lottery and ran gambling games in their homes (1969: 204). 52

In daily manner Puzo mentioned the difference between people in Tenth Avenue and

Eleventh Avenue. People in Tenth Avenue, especially the women, like to gather with the neighbor carrying their own chair and gossiping. People in Eleventh Avenue prefer to sit in beer taverns and guzzling their pay. From how Puzo could describe the setting in details and the biography of Mario Puzo, it can be seen that there is a relationship between the setting in Hell's Kitchen and Puzo's life background.

Hell's Kitchen is the place where Mario Puzo spent his childhood time as the son of Italian's immigrants. Mario Puzo was born on October 15th 1920 into an

Italian immigrant family in Hell’s Kitchen New York

(www.litweb.net/biography/11/Mario_Puzo.html. Sept 1st 2008). The memories of his childhood could be the reason why he chose Hell's Kitchen as one of the setting of

The Godfather besides the history background where Hell's Kitchen is the living area of the immigrants on that time.

3. Puzo's Retired Time in Long Island

Long Island is also one of the setting of place in The Godfather. Long Island is the place where Don Vito Corleone lived in his old age. Before that he lived in

Long Beach with his children in a estate that belonged to him.

The father of the bride, Don Vito Corleone, never forgot his old friends and neighbors though he himself now lived in a huge house on Long Island (1969: 7).

When Don Vito still lived in Hell's Kitchen and Bronx, he ever wanted to move his 53

family and buy a house in Long Island because he wanted his children lived in a good environment.

The family had long since moved to an apartment house in the Bronx. Don Corleone was considering buying a house on Long Island, but he wanted to fit this in with other plans he was formulating (1969: 232).

The setting of place in Long Island in The Godfather is related to the life background of Mario Puzo. Long Island is where Mario Puzo spent his time in his old age until he died that in coincidence is the same place where later Don Vito Corleone died in the novel. Puzo put his living hood experience as the idea of the setting of place in his novel as same as his childhood in Hell's Kitchen New York.

4. Puzo's Father's Occupation and Middle Class Life in Immigrants'

Neighborhood

Occupation and daily manner is one of the elements that composed setting in the work of literature (1966: 40). Puzo described some kind of occupations in each of the setting of place. The example of occupation aspect is in the setting of Hell's Kitchen.

Young Don Vito Corleone worked as a railway track man after he lost his job in

Abbandando's grocery store in Hell's Kitchen. Puzo mentioned that some of the people worked as a railway track man and most of them are Irish and American people (1969: 205). Puzo also gave the details of the condition as a railway track man after the war ended. Puzo mentioned that when the war ended the work become slow and the workers only get a few days' pay a month. Puzo also mentioned that most of 54

the people in Eleventh Avenue of Hell's Kitchen New York worked as bachelor trainmen, yard workers, and the cheapest prostitutes (1969: 215). Puzo can described the details of the condition as a railway track man because it is related to the life background of Mario Puzo himself.

Mario Puzo was born on October 15th 1920 into an Italian immigrant family in Hell’s Kitchen New York. His father was a railway track man. Mario Puzo lived in above railway yards with his family (www.litweb.net/biography/11/Mario_Puzo.html. Sept 1st 2008).

His father worked as a railway track man when Puzo was still a child. This childhood experience could be the reference of the occupation aspect in the setting of place in

Hell's Kitchen

Related to the occupation, the description of daily manner in the middle class society in immigrants' neighborhood is also related to the life background of Mario

Puzo. Puzo lived in immigrants' neighborhood above the railway yards which is a middle class society in Hell's Kitchen. This childhood experience helped Puzo to describe the social condition in the middle-class-immigrants' neighborhood.

5. Puzo's Lifetime Experience in the Historical Events and the Setting of Time of

The Godfather

The setting of time in The Godfather is started from 1910s until 1950s. It is started from when Don Vito Corleone came to the United States for the first time until he died and his son Michael took over the reign of Corleone family. This setting of time is related to the lifetime of Mario Puzo as the author of the novel. Puzo was born 55

in 1920 and died in 1999, it means that he lived in the time of the setting of time that appeared in the novel. Moreover, Puzo published his book in 1969 that means he wrote the story based on the past time setting.

The setting of time in the Hell's Kitchen is from 1919 until 1939 and Puzo was born in 1920. It can be seen that the setting of time in Hell's Kitchen is based on his childhood time experience when he lived in Hell's Kitchen. The social condition after World War I is going better for awhile but in 1929 the crash of stock market and the prohibition caused The Great Depression. This economic condition is showed in

The Godfather.

When Prohibition came to pass and alcohol forbidden to be sold, Vito Corleone made the final step from a quite ordinary, somewhat ruthless businessman to a great Don in the world of criminal enterprise. It did not happen in a year, but by the end of the Prohibition period and the start of The Great Depression, Vito Corleone had become the Godfather, the Don, Don Corleone (1969: 224).

Puzo also described the social condition of the society. When people were in poverty the underworld mafia was going stronger. Poverty increased the level of crime in

United States at that time. This condition also has been felt by Mario Puzo in his childhood. This experience could help Puzo to describe the condition at that time.

The development of Mafia in the United States also happened in Mario

Puzo's lifetime. A year after the crash of stock market in 1930 the underworld mafia strengthen their reign (http://law.jrank.org/pages/1631/Organized-Crime.html. May

7th 2009). Puzo inserted some real names in the novel that at that time are the famous mafia bosses. Puzo inserted the names like Al Capone and Salvatore Maranzano that 56

both of them are the powerful mafia bosses in 1930s.

The great Al Capone was Maranzano's friend and he had his own organization, his own men, plus a huge war chest. He would not brook this upstart whose reputation was more that of a Parliamentary debater than a true Mafioso (1969: 227).

Al Capone and Salvatore Maranzano is also the people behind the great war that really happened in the 1930s in New York. Puzo also gave some names of mafia families as the big five families in New York but the names are not the real names like

Capone and Maranzano. Puzo also inserted historical event like the great war in underworld mafia.

Maranzano's refusal touched off the great war of 1933 which was to change the whole structure of the underworld in New York City (1969: 227).

The great war was really happened at that time and it is called The Castellammarese

War. The war that the result is to divide the control in New York into big five families.

Puzo wrote about this war on his novel and the story is almost the same with real war with fake name except Maranzano and Capone. The big five families in The

Godfather are Corleone, Cuneo, Stracci, Tattaglia, and Barzini. The real big five families in New York at that time are Bonanno, Jackie, Colombo, Genovese,

Lucchese (http://www.organized-crime.de/lauhtm01.htm. May 7th 2009).

In The Godfather the man who killed Maranzano and make an equal power to the big five families is Don Vito Corleone but in the real war the man who killed

Maranzano is Charles “Lucky” Luciano who was the Don of Lucchese family and the strongest after the dead of Maranzano. Puzo put some historical events in his lifetime 57

that help to build the story of underworld mafia that really grown in New York at that time.

World War II is also the example of the historical event which is related to

Puzo life background becomes the setting of time in The Godfather. Puzo described the condition when World War II happened and after World War II finished. He described how underworld mafia controlled the supply black-market OPA food stamps, gasoline stamps, and travel priorities. Puzo who also joined an army when the

World War II happened mentioned about the fight in Pacific Ocean in World War II in

The Godfather. In the World War II Puzo joined US Air Force that stationed in East

Asia and Germany.( www.litweb.net/biography/11/Mario_Puzo.html. Sept 1st 2008).

This experience also helped Puzo to build the story which is related to historical events. Puzo also showed the development in Hollywood showbiz after World War. In

1940s and 1950s after World War II Hollywood was in greatest condition. Many movies and famous actor and actress made their achievement. There are many Italian

American actor and actress that tried to find their fortune and became famous. One of them is Frank Sinatra who is a singer and actor

(http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9332633. May 7th 2009). In The

Godfather Puzo showed it in the part when Johnny Fontane the Italian actor in singer came to The Hollywood Movie Star Lonely Hearts Club and invited his old friend

Nino. Nino met many famous actresses and actors in 1940s. Puzo mentioned some real names of the actors, for example is Clark Gable. 58

He had seen her angry, hurt, humiliated, yet with a shining dignity when a caddish Clark Gable had taken advantage of her, then left her for a sexpot (1969: 192).

Puzo described the glamorous world in Hollywood that after the World War II was developing and opened a good opportunity for a business. Nino is one of the man who was going to be an actor with the help of Johnny Fontane who already famous.

From the analysis above it can be seen that some of the Mario Puzo's life background are related to the setting of The Godfather. The first that related is the origin of Mario Puzo that came from Italian immigrant family. Puzo put his own childhood experience in the part when Don Vito Corleone still young. The second aspect that related is the setting of place both Long Island and Hell's Kitchen. Hell's

Kitchen is the neighborhood where Puzo spent his childhood and Long Island is where Puzo spent his time before he died. Puzo put this experience in the part when

Don Vito Corleone lived in Hell's Kitchen and finally died in Long Island. The third aspect that related to Puzo's life background is the occupation in the middle class society. Puzo put his childhood memories when his father worked as the railway track man in Hell's Kitchen which is the middle class society. The fourth aspect that related to Puzo's life background is the setting of time and historical events that related to

Puzo's lifetime experience. Puzo combined both life background and historical events in his lifetime to build the story through the setting of The Godfather.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

In this chapter I will conclude all of the analysis in the chapter IV. This thesis contains two problem formulations that can help to find the representation of

Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of The Godfather. The first problem formulation discussed about the setting of The Godfather. There are four elements of setting, and the first element is setting of place. There are four major setting of places in The Godfather. Most of the setting of place are taking place in United States and the setting of places are Long Beach house, Long Island house, and Hell's Kitchen.

One of the setting of places is in Corleone, Sicily. According to the theory of Murphy in Understanding Unseen, the setting of place in The Godfather is categorized as familiar place and unfamiliar place because Puzo as the American writer set the setting in United States that familiar for American reader and also set the setting in

Corleone, Sicily that unfamiliar for the American reader.

The second element is occupation and daily manner. There are some occupation and daily manner aspects that can be found in The Godfather. The first aspect is A Better Living and The Structural Crime Organization in the United States after World War II. After World War II the economy in the United States was developed into a better condition. The immigrants in America succeeded to earn their own living, most of them earn their own living from their own business. The underworld mafia also developed and became an organized crime structure after the

59 60

great war in 1933 that changed the whole structure of Mafia into big five families.

The second aspect is Mafia's Control in Occupation after World War II and Marriage Tradition in Corleone. The daily manner and occupation in Corleone can be seen that the major occupation in Corleone is as a farmer because Corleone is an agricultural town in Sicily. It can be seen from the physical description in the setting of place. Corleone is also a town that is controlled by Mafia and it gave some effects in occupation aspect and the daily manner of the characters. Another daily manner of the people in Corleone is that they still keep their tradition.

The third aspect is Middle Class Life in Hell's Kitchen. There are some kind of occupations that can be found in Hell's Kitchen New York in 1919 – 1939.

Some of the people in Hell's Kitchen run a shop and some of the people worked as a railway track man that most of them are Irish and American people. The daily manner of people in Tenth Avenue and Eleventh Avenue are really different. People in Tenth

Avenue, especially the women, like to gather with the neighbor carrying their own chair and gossiping. People in Eleventh Avenue prefer to sit in beer taverns and guzzling their pay.

The third element is setting of time. In The Godfather the setting of time is from 1910s until 1950s. The setting of time in The Godfather is categorized as past time stories because Puzo set the setting of time long before he published his book in 1969. The setting of time in The Godfather also can be categorized as the time of the story itself because based on the year of the book has been published, the types of the time setting is the time of the story itself because Puzo set the setting 61

time in the story from 1910s until 1950s which means years before 1969.

The fourth element is general environment. There are social, intellectual, moral, and religious aspects that can be found in the general environment of The Godfather. The first aspect is Moral Values in Family. The important thing to consider in Corleone family is a family. Each of the family member respects each other. This aspect is related to a moral value that is one of the elements in general environment. The second aspect is The Importance of Education in Corleone Family and Women's Education After World War II. In intellectual aspect Don Vito Corleone considered to how important education is. He wanted his children have a good education in a better school and mix with better companions. At that time women started to have an equal education degree with men. For the example is Hagen's wife and Kay Adams.

The third aspect is Religious Aspect in Corleone Family. In religious aspect Corleone family is a catholics family but only the women in the family who are strictly Catholics. Kay, who is a Protestant, get married with Michael and entered

Corleone family. Michael himself never bother the religious-difference but Michael's mother always offers Kay to convert into Catholics. The fourth aspect is Social

Environment in the United States and Corleone, Sicily. The social environment that can be seen in the story is different from time to time and place. Puzo described the social condition in the United States and Corleone, Sicily

The second problem formulation discussed about the representation of

Mario Puzo's life background that can be seen from the setting of The Godfather. 62

There are five aspects that can be considered as the representation of Mario Puzo's life background in the setting of the story. The first aspect is as An American Born in

Italian Immigrant Family in New York. The main story about Italian Mafia in New

York that at first came from the Italian immigrants that came to United States is related to the life background of Mario Puzo. Puzo was born in United States from

Italian immigrants' parents that came to United States.

The second aspect is Puzo's Childhood in Hell's Kitchen

Neighborhood. It is related to Mario Puzo's childhood in Hell's Kitchen. Hell's

Kitchen is the place where Mario Puzo spent his childhood time as the son of Italian's immigrants. The third aspect is Puzo's Retired Time in Long Island. The setting of place in Long Island in The Godfather is related to the life background of Mario

Puzo. Long Island is where Mario Puzo spent his time in his old age until he died that in coincidence is the same place where later Don Vito Corleone died in the novel.

The fourth aspect is Puzo's Father's Occupation and Middle Class Life in Immigrants' Neighborhood. The occupation as a railway track man and the life in middle class society in immigrants' neighborhood that are mentioned in the setting of place in Hell's Kitchen are related to Mario Puzo. The occupation as a railway track man is related to the occupation of Puzo's father when he was a child. This childhood experience could be the reference of the occupation aspect in the setting of place in

Hell's Kitchen. Related to the occupation, the description of daily manner in the middle class society in immigrants' neighborhood is also related to the life background of Mario Puzo. Puzo lived in immigrants' neighborhood above the 63

railway yards which is a middle class society in Hell's Kitchen. This childhood experience helped Puzo to describe the social condition in the middle-class- immigrants' neighborhood.

The last aspect is Puzo's Lifetime Experience in the Historical Events and the Setting of Time of The Godfather. Puzo was born in 1920 and died in 1999 and the setting time of the novel is from 1910s until 1950s, it means that he lived in the time of the setting of time that appeared in the novel. Puzo also mentioned about historical events that happened in the time that as same as the setting of time of the novel. Puzo mentioned The Great Depression, the crash of stock market, The Great

War of five families in New York, and World War II. Those historical events are also happened in Mario Puzo's life time. Over all, I can conclude that Puzo combined both life background and historical events in his lifetime to build the story through the setting of The Godfather and it can be seen from the five aspects that represent Mario

Puzo's life background in the setting of The Godfather.

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