I never really understood that part other than it lacked a “innocent” romance (every other woman in the book was married or a floozy even kay was “sophisticated”) Was it padding? I (although the Sicily section seemed to be an anti-mafia lecture) mean mike would of still gotten blown up in/by the car and became “his father’s son”
It wasn’t padding. Michael’s marriage to Apollonia and her subsequent death were important parts of his transformation from an American war hero to a Sicilian mafia don. The courtship and marriage meant that he was no longer just an American taking refuge, and the death hardened him.
Getting married to a Sicilian girl reinforces Michaels turn away from being a civilian to being totally immersed in the family business. Apollonia is representative of the old country ways that Michael has spent his life (until recently) consciously avoiding. By marrying her, he has fully accepted that way of life. His marriage is literally to her and figuratively to the mafia.
An important part of the long term story arc of Michael’s transition.
Just before going to Sicily he makes a key step: for the first time actively participating in serious Family matters with the hit on McCluskey and the Turk. From then on, professionally, he was part of the Family.
Then there’s his personal life story arc. Before going to Sicily, he was dating Kay. She was very WASPy. A completely unsuitable wife for a Family man. (Remember, to move up the Cosa Nostra ranks, both parents had to be Sicilian/Neopolitan. So any children of such a marriage would not qualify for leadership in the Family in the eyes of the old school types.)
As part of this transition, Michael would naturally be more amenable to marrying someone the Family would approve of. Appolonia definitely comes from not just the right area, but the right town.
Now, to make things interesting story wise, she has to die, Kay returns to the story, Michael gets vengeful, etc. If anything, it’s the murder of Appolonia (which was also an attempt on Michael) that mattered more than the murder of Salvatore. After all, Salvatore was a hot head who got himself into trouble and such and his ending was predictable.
Michael getting his revenge on Fabrizio was filmed but left out of the film. It is included in the Saga version. It demonstrates how years later her death was still an important matter to him.
It was also a foreshadowing of his troubles with Kay (and Mary, much later). You don’t get to be who Michael was and have a happy, stable family life.
More sex scenes. Remember, the book is kinda porn. It’s spaced out, but one of the reasons for continuing to read that novel is that another sex scene is coming up. And this way the author gets to include a virgin.
I’d like to see someone call him “Mike” to his face!!
You mean like how Tom and Al both call him Mike/Mikey?
[Moderating]
May I fix the mangled spelling in the title (which I assume should say “Sicily”)? It’s going to drive me nuts.
I think it was a major step in Michael’s evolution into the emotionally distant man he became. He fell in love with somebody and then he was grief stricken when she died. That made him avoid getting close to people in the future; he didn’t want there to be anybody that he could be hurt by.
Also Clemenza. Pete calls him “Mikey” just before he teaches him how to cook for 20 guys. Then just before the McCluskey/Turk meeting both Tom and Pete call him “Mike”. And that’s just the first two I came up with off the top of my head.
There’s also the famous line by Tessio: “Tell Mike it was only business. I’ve always liked him.” But that’s not face to face. Wait, there’s “Mike, can I have a minute?” at Vito’s funeral.
The real proper name thing is Sonny/Salvatore. Vito never uses the nickname per the book. But that doesn’t stop imitators from misquoting Vito in scenes such as the funeral parlor.