SPE ANGLAIS The rise of Don Vito Corleone I. Don Corleone and the mob: - DC seems generous and sympathetic but it’s for his own benefits. He uses people to build up power and wealth. All in all he is a ruthless gangster. - Contrary to the authorities, DC is generosity itself / the epitome of generosity. Indeed, unlike politicians, he helped poor people. - Life in DC’s world is easy because people have money whereas in the greater world, life is harsh. - Ironically enough, there are more advantages in DC’s world than in the greater world. - Yet he was not on friendly terms with the police and the authorities. II. The Great Depression and its consequences: - The Great Depression was a crisis in the US in the 30’s. At the time there was no Welfare State. People had to find for themselves. They lived on soup-kitchen, they were homeless, they might be humiliated, ashamed and demeaned. They felt depressed as they couldn’t support their families. Indeed, they were penniless / broke. - As a consequence, the last support was to ask DC for help, which meant that they got involved with the Mob. - DC provided them with a job. Yet these jobs were illegal and the men could be sent to jail and lose their freedom. - They were serviceable / indebted to the Godfather. They felt grateful to DC as he was the only one to give them a hand by lending money. III. Italian immigration and the American Dream: - The belief that anybody can climb the social ladder and become wealthy “to rise from rags to riches” that its to say they want to become self-made-man. - At the beginning, they were a minority whereas they became numerous after a massive immigration in the 19th century. - First, they were despised and discriminated against. Then they got integrated, they created their own district: Little Italy. Conclusion: This text is interesting because it shows the immigrants difficulties to be integrated. .