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Chapter 8
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
That night, Michael meets Kay in the city, but he is preoccupied thinking about Sonny and his strategy against Sollozzo. He feels he should have more sympathy for his father, but he understands Hagen’s advice that the issue “was just business, not personal.” He and Kay arrive at the hotel, but Michael acts secretive towards her and refuses to tell an “outsider” about his father and the Family business. After spending some time with Kay, Michael leaves to visit Don Corleone in the hospital.
The attempt on Don Corleone’s life marks the moment where the Mafia’s grip finally takes hold of Michael and refuses to let him go from that point onward. Michael tries to heed Hagen’s advice that the hit was just “business,” but because “business” nearly cost him his father, Michael’s budding loyalty to his family already begins to dominate his life and causes him to view Kay as an outsider.
Themes
Michael arrives at the hospital around 10:30 p.m. and is surprised to find the street and the lobby inside deserted. He wonders where Tessio and Clemenza’s guards are, as there is no one outside of Don Corleone’s room. A nurse tells Michael that the police came and chased away all of the Don’s guards. Michael then angrily calls Sonny to tell him that their father is “completely unprotected.” As Sonny scrambles to send men to the hospital, Michael makes the nurse help him move Don Corleone into a different room.
Despite his previously minimal participation in his Family’s business affairs, Michael demonstrates an innate talent for surveying a situation and reacting to it appropriately. Finding a man as powerful—and as vulnerable—as his father without protection unleashes Michael’s quick wit and natural leadership qualities.
Themes
Once Michael moves his father to a room at the end of the hall, the Don smiles at the presence of his youngest son. “Why should I be afraid now?” Don Corleone asks, “strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.”
This scene marks a turning point in the novel that begins the transfer of power from Don Corleone to his son Michael. Although Michael is not yet committed to the Mafia life, he is deeply committed to his father, and the two commitments eventually prove to be hopelessly intertwined.
Themes
