Topic #3: Syntax

Puzo’s main purpose in his literary style is to create a flow in the story that corresponds to the mood and feel of the book. Although he is eloquent, his syntax never reaches the disproportionate lengths that some classic authors’ (such as Nathaniel Hawthorne) do. When a character is thinking to himself, Puzo normally uses short, choppy syntax to convey their thought process. When Johnny Fontane is considering the Don’s offer to help him start his own movie studio, he thinks that “He could be a king. Hell. He could even be a Don” (179). By breaking down the character’s mind, Puzo succinctly conveys their motives and intentions. About the only character for whom Puzo does not do this is Don Corleone, but this is because the Don is supposed to be the one character that is mysterious and seemingly all-knowing.

            As many of the events in The Godfather cause other things to happen, many of Puzo’s sentences are cause-and-effect. By having two parts to his sentences, he can create a duality that shows the order of events. With so many things happening in the book and all of them relating to each other in some way or another, it is important for Puzo to quickly convey events to the reader as briefly and clearly as possible. As for describing a character’s actions, Puzo often gives their motives in the same sentence if he wishes the reader to know why the character acts the way they do. For static characters such as Captain McCluskey, reasons for why “The bookmakers in his district paid more protection money than the bookmakers in any other part of the city” are simply “because of the expense of putting four boys through college” (142). Such characters are not important to the changing dynamic of the book, and therefore Puzo wishes the reader to fully understand their motives.