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Chapter 5
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
The next morning, Clemenza begins planning the murder of his protégé, Paulie. He had brought Paulie up studiously through the Mafia ranks until Paulie “made his bones” and established a good living within the Corleone Family structure. After much pondering over who will replace Paulie as “button man” in the Family, Clemenza decides on Rocco Lampone, a military veteran who has worked for the Family for years and who consistently showed sound judgement. In order to replace Paulie, Rocco must be the one who kills him.
Paulie seals his fate the minute he decides to betray the Corleone Family. Within the Mafia, no amount of prior loyalty can offset the damage done by a single act of treachery. Puzo also emphasizes the central role violence plays in the Mafia’s moral order. In order to cancel out a “bad” hit—the attack on the Don—Rocco must commit a “good” hit by killing Paulie. For the mob, murder is positive or negative, depending on the circumstances.
Themes
Clemenza decides that Paulie’s execution must be public: his body has to be found “so that embryo traitors would be frightened and the enemy warned that the Corleone Family had by no means gone stupid or soft.” Pretending that they suspect nothing about Paulie, Clemenza and Rocco then drive around with Paulie on the pretext of scoping out suitable places where they can “go to the mattresses” (prepare for mob war by giving soldiers mattress-filled apartments to uses as hideouts). They then have Paulie drive to a secluded road. Clemenza gets out of the car to relieve himself, and Rocco shoots Paulie in the head.
In the novel, the appearance of a car foreshadows impending death. Paulie’s demise in the car transforms him from a symbol of betrayal to a symbol of Mafia justice and the Corleone Family’s power. As the Family prepares to go to war with the Five Families, Paulie’s body becomes a sort of battle flag, a warning to others not to betray the Family and a signal to enemies that death awaits all those who challenge the Corleones.
Themes
