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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Godfather, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Crime and Justice
Power
Masculinity and Patriarchy
Family
Loyalty and Betrayal
Summary
Analysis
Tom Hagen arrives in a car with Sollozzo to a secret location, where Sollozzo informs Hagen that Don Corleone is dead, and that he must convince Sonny to make a deal on the narcotics trade. Sensing that Sonny’s first inclination will be to retaliate, Sollozzo warns Hagen that “the Tattaglia Family stands behind me with all their people,” and that “the other New York Families will go along with anything that will stop a full-scale war between us.” A phone call then lets Sollozzo know that Don Corleone is still alive. “Bad luck for me. Bad luck for you,” he tells Hagen.
Sonny’s previous failure to heed Don Corleone’s advice to never share Family disagreements with outsiders comes back to haunt him. Having foolishly expressed an interest in Sollozzo’s offer during their first meeting, Sonny exposed a weakness in the Corleones’ unified front. Knowing that Sonny would be more willing than his father to negotiate a drug deal leads Sollozzo to try and dispatch of the Don who stands in the way of the deal.
Themes
