Answering the Call

When the movie “The Godfather” is compared to some of the concepts in the Hero’s Journey, there are many of the same archetypes. At the point that we are at so far in the film, I have seen some of archetypes. The main archetype that I have been able to compare from the two sources is Answering the Call. When Michael Corleone first enters the movie, he states that what the Dom and the rest of his family is doing is them and that he has no part in it and that is when he is refusing the Call. When his father is shot and sees how much he is needed he changes his outlook on what his family is doing and he answers the call and steps up into the role that his family needs him in. This change that he makes is an expression of characterization and when he is characterized in this way, his brothers, Sonny and Tom Hagen, are used as foils to show how much and in what ways he is changing.

In the short amount of the film that we have seen, it is hard to make a certain judgment on some of the characters because they have still been weak characters so far. Michael Corleone has been a weaker and not till of late and when his father was show has he really been a factor in anything that his family does. One of the character archetypes that I see Michael represents in Young Man from the Provinces. He returns home and claims that he is not his heritage and he when he sees all of the problems that have currently erupted with his family, his father being shot and Luca Brasi being killed, his has no choice but to become a part of it. He has a different outlook on the problems than Sonny and Tom Hagen have. The problems that have been seen before are solved in a different way with the addition of Michael.

The characterization of Michael Corleone

The characterization that is done with Michael Corleone and the foiling that is done with his brothers is one of the most distinctive literary features so far in the movie. As Michael returns to his home, he is not seen as the strongest characters and does not even associate himself with his family’s acts and business. He is seen as a weak character and does not have much of an input on what is happing around him with his family. He sticks out like a sore thumb at his sister’s wedding and does not involve him much. Not until the news that his father was shot, did he even show any emotional attachment to anything. When goes to the hospital to see his father and he thinks that he is too late and he is on the phone with Sonny and he tells him not to panic, it is the first time that anything of importance is put into his hands. He has the choice to either answer the call or to reject it and he choices to answer it. The second that he puts down the phone he is a different person, he takes all of the matters into his hands and he needs to act on his feet and deal with his unexpected situation on his hands. This is when the character of Michael Corleone changes into one of the main brothers and his jumps feet first into his family’s business.

The use of foil to show what kind of character Michael has become is very evident in the scene when their next move towards Captain McCluskey and Sollozzo is being decided. The position that the brothers are sitting makes the image of the fire and ice evident. The position Sonny one side and Tom Hagen on the other side with Michael in the middle, this is also show the symbolic archetype fire and ice. Sonny is the fire, hot under his collar and always wanting to settle things though violence and fighting and Tom Hagen being the ice, he thinks every action through before he does them and is able to put aside emotional influences and puts the educated decision forward. Michael is right in between the two, he is able to act with emotion when necessary but he thinks his acts through and his able to have an open mind about what is going on around him, which is the best of both worlds and will Michael farther than any of the other brothers.