60 pages • 2 hours read
Mario PuzoThe Godfather
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 1, Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Sicilian undertaker Amerigo Bonasera watches as the two young men who assaulted and attempted to rape his daughter go free because they belong to politically powerful families. Bonasera decides to go to Don Corleone for justice. In Las Vegas, singer Johnny Fontane’s wife is cheating on him, and he decides to return to New York to visit his godfather, Corleone. Nazorine the baker decides to go to Don Corleone to secure citizenship for his daughter’s fiancée. They are all invited to Don Corleone’s daughter’s wedding, where they plan to plead their cases.
On the last Saturday of August 1945, Connie Corleone, daughter of Don Vito Corleone, is getting married at his home in Long Beach, Long Island, New York. His three sons are there as well: Santino, or Sonny, Frederico, or Fredo, and Michael. Michael is not with his family but sits far apart at a table with his fiancée, Kay Adams. After volunteering as a Marine in World War II, Michael now attends Dartmouth College, returning only for his sister’s wedding. While they are greeting guests, the FBI arrives outside the gates and notes the license plate numbers of all the cars. Sonny loses his temper, but Don Corleone is not angry.
Connie Corleone is marrying Carlo Rizzi, of whom her father disapproves. The Corleone family is Sicilian, and Carlo Rizzi is half Sicilian, half Northern Italian. Carlo seems to have married her for her family connections and money. Sonny, although he is married, disappears into the house with the maid of honor. Tom Hagen, Don Corleone’s lawyer and consigliere (top adviser), watches the wedding from inside Don Corleone’s office. Don Corleone joins him, and they see the list of people who have been granted permission to petition him. Nazorine is the first supplicant; he and Don Corleone grew up together, and he has been loyal throughout the years. Don Corleone agrees to arrange for Nazorine’s daughter’s boyfriend to become an American citizen. Anthony Coppola is next, and he receives five hundred dollars to start a pizzeria. Luca Brasi, who has not been approved, asks to see the Don. The Don agrees.
Outside, Kay Adams sees the anger in Luca Brasi’s face and asks Michael about him. Michael tells her that Luca is a hitman and begins to reveal the truth about his father to her—that Don Corleone is involved in organized crime. Luca is intensely loyal to Don Corleone, but after Luca leaves, the Don is relieved; he understands that Luca, besides being loyal, is also intense and dangerous. Amerigo Bonasera is next, and the Don asks Sonny to join them. Bonasera asks the Don to kill the men who beat his daughter. Don Corleone is angry because, until this point, Bonasera has taken pains to avoid owing him a debt. Because he has never developed his friendship with the Don, his request is being refused. Bonasera finally swears allegiance to the Don and accepts the debt incurred. The Don instructs Tom to send a few men to savagely beat the offenders. He despairs of Sonny, who is not paying attention, and thinks about who else he can hand the family business over to.
Johnny Fontane arrives at the wedding. He sings a few songs, then asks to meet with the Don. He admits that his second wife is terrible, and that he cannot sing anymore; he therefore asks for help getting a role in a movie. Don Corleone castigates him for letting women boss him and tells Johnny to move into his house for a month. Don Corleone will straighten out everything with the studio executive who is refusing a role to Johnny. After Johnny leaves, Tom and the Don go on to other business. They talk about Virgil Sollozzo, who is in a disagreement with the Don over Sollozzo’s narcotics business. Also, Tom tells him that Genco Abbandando, the Don’s long-time consigliere, is dying. Tom has been acting as consigliere for a year and wants it to be permanent, but it would be rare because he is young and not Sicilian.
Michael tells Kay the story of how his father ensured Johnny Fontane’s success by getting him released from his contract at gunpoint. He then had enormous success, but now that success is waning, and so Johnny is back. Kay thinks his father is generous, but Michael understands it is all about getting something in return for these favors.
The Don, Sonny, Fredo, Michael, and Johnny all go to visit Abbandando. On the way, Don Corleone tells Michael to come talk to him when he is done with college because he has a plan. The Don sits in the hospital with Genco Abbandando as he dies. Later, the Don tells Tom that he is the new consigliere to the family. The consigliere is the Don’s right-hand man and closest companion, and Corleone has broken tradition because Hagen is not Sicilian. Tom then flies to California to meet with Jack Woltz, the movie producer who is obstructing Johnny’s career.
Hagen begins negotiations with Woltz by scheduling a meeting and implying that if he is not happy with the results, the movie labor union will strike. Woltz does not take the meeting seriously, but after he investigates Tom and the Don, he invites Tom to his country house for dinner. They continue negotiations, but at the end of the night, Woltz still refuses to put Johnny in the movie. Meanwhile, Corleone enforcer Paulie Gatto tracks down the two men who assaulted Amerigo Bonasera’s daughter, and he and two other men beat them nearly to death.
Chapter 2 Summary
Tom is back in New York and preparing for the meeting with Virgil Sollozzo. Don Corleone tells him what to do about Jack Woltz. One morning, Woltz wakes up to find the head of his prize racehorse in his bed. He understands, finally, what he is up against in Don Corleone, and he casts Johnny Fontane in his movie.
Don Corleone and Tom discuss the meeting with Sollozzo, who will be asking for money and immunity to set up a narcotics operation. While the Don is inclined to say no, both Tom and Sonny think it is a good idea. The next day, the Don rejects Sollozzo’s plan, as narcotics is seen as a dirty business, while gambling, which he is primarily involved in, is seen by politicians as just a vice. During the meeting, Sonny acts a little too eager, which angers the Don. Three months pass. Just before Christmas, Tom is leaving his office when Sollozzo forces him into a car with two other men.
Michael and Kay have decided to get married during Christmas week. They both understand that Michael is going to have to cut ties with his family. They are in their New York hotel when they see in the newspaper that his father has been shot. Michael calls Sonny and finds out that Vito is alive and recovering, and that Tom has been abducted. This is the first time in the past ten years that the Corleone family has been threatened. Sonny has had to take over the family during the crisis. He knows that Sollozzo must be behind the shooting, but that he also must have had the backing of one of the other families to strike back.
Chapter 3 Summary
Sollozzo and his men have taken Tom to a basement apartment. Sollozzo tells Tom that he killed Don Corleone. He wants Tom to go to Sonny, who will now be acting as the head of the family, with his original offer. If the Corleone family does not agree, the Tattaglias, who are backing Sollozzo, will start a war. Tom realizes that Sollozzo is right—no one wants a war, and Tom is duty-bound, as consigliere, to present the deal to Sonny. He has just agreed to carry the message to Sonny when they are told that Don Corleone survived the shooting. Sollozzo decides not to let Tom go.
Chapter 4 Summary
Michael Corleone arrives at his father’s house. Tom’s wife is there, waiting to hear about her husband. Sonny and Tessio are in the Don’s office, making a list of men to kill. Sonny explains that, if they had killed the Don, he would have gone ahead and gotten into business with them, to preserve the status quo with the Five Families. But because the Don lived, Sonny plans to assassinate Sollozzo, as well as the heads of the Tattaglia family. Tom is returned to the family and, after embracing his wife, turns and enters the Don’s office. Michael realizes that he, Sonny, and Tom have all learned something about how to do business from the Don.
Chapter 5 Summary
Sonny and Tom are discussing what to do. Tom advises against moving on all of the men on Sonny’s kill list. He points out that the Don would have seen this all as just business, and they should focus on that in their response, instead of on the personal outrage of the situation. When Sonny questions his love for the Don, Tom responds in such a way that everyone knows he would like to kill these men, but he is putting his emotions aside to try to do what the Don would want. Tom advises Sonny to negotiate and even make a deal if he has to. Then, when the Don gets better, he can sort everything out with the other families. Sonny asks Tom what he should do if the Don dies. Tom replies that he should go into the drug business with Sollozzo and the Tattaglias and then bide his time. He notes that when the Don dies, much of the Corleone family’s influence will die with him, and the other families will back the Tattaglia family in a war between the two. Sonny gives everyone their orders; Michael receives the task of finding Luca Brasi, whom no one has been able to locate. Tom protests that Michael should stay out of it, and Sonny agrees, telling Michael to stay home and keep trying Luca on the phone.
Book 1, Chapters 1-5 Analysis
In Chapter 1, by far the longest chapter in the novel, Puzo does much of the foundational work of the book. He establishes the world by setting the opening scene at a typical Sicilian wedding at the Corleone family “mall” in Long Beach, New York. The reader is immediately immersed in the culture and its expectations—for example, the notion that Don Corleone cannot refuse any requests on his daughter’s wedding day. This chapter also introduces the important characters in the book, as the entire Corleone family and their wedding guests are all present. Even Michael, the outsider son, is there with his girlfriend, Kay Adams. The reader is given a complete overview of the relationship dynamics between family members.
The first chapter also shows the reader the true nature of the Corleone family business. Most obviously, the fact that the FBI are taking down license numbers of wedding guests clues the reader in to the fact that there is more to this family than meets the eye. This impression is confirmed by the men who seek help from Don Corleone in his office during the reception. Puzo uses these scenes to create an awareness in the reader of the reality of Don Corleone’s business, and the extent of his power. While the reader is being shown these scenes, their gradual understanding is echoed by Kay’s reaction to Michael’s stories about his family and their guests, and his slow reveal to her of the true nature of the family business.
And yet, like Kay’s reaction, the reader may not yet understand the true nature of the criminality on display here. Often, throughout the novel, Puzo uses Kay to represent an American public that is ignorant of the Mafia and may even find it difficult to believe that these men are really the criminals that the newspapers say. As Michael reflects, Kay “seemed to regard the Don as a slightly unethical businessman” (22). Puzo uses later scenes, first with Paulie Gatto and then with Jack Woltz, to reveal the true nature of the Corleone family business to the reader. The graphic scenes are graphic force the reader to fully understand the violence and brutality of Mafia business. Like Kay, and like Jack Woltz, the reader is faced with clear evidence of their merciless, vicious criminality.
Meanwhile, the reader is also given great insight into Don Corleone, both in the way that he treats his guests and supplicants, and the way that they feel about him. This is the first the reader learns of The Don’s Code, the fact that he has several principles that he follows as the head of the Corleone family. When he meets with Sollozzo and then reprimands Sonny, the reader sees one of these principles in action: the idea that one should never reveal one’s thoughts or feelings, especially in negotiations. Another important theme—Family Loyalty in a Mafia Family—is introduced when Don Corleone meets with Amerigo Bonasera. The Don makes it clear that, before he will help Bonasera, he needs to be assured of Bonasera’s family loyalty to the Corleones.
At the beginning of the novel, the family is celebrating Connie’s wedding, and the Don is at the height of his powers. By the end of Chapter 5, halfway through Book 1, the Don has been shot, and the entire family and business is in danger. The status quo has been upset.
Throughout these opening chapters, Michael Corleone is shown to be an outsider when it comes to the Corleone family business. After the Don is shot, he does not like being told to stay at home and out of sight. This is the very beginning of Michael’s movement towards becoming the new Don, highlighting the theme of Every Individual Has One Destiny.
