Diction

Diction

• "...before he put the gun against Fanucci's sweaty, suety cheek and fired into his brain." (206) The inclusion of this denotative, obscure word (meaning hard, raw fat from a beef carcass sold for cooking), right next to its counter, with similar phonetic pronunciation, is a colorful play on words. 
• Many of the characters in the novel are Italian, and Puzo includes words and phrases, usually italicized, that are from the Italian language. Denotative words like “consigliori,” meaning a counselor or advisor to an important leader, and “pezzonovanti,” which derives from ‘idiot’ or ‘moron’ in Sicilian and translates also to what in English would be called a “big shot,” are important in the plot for characterization and labeling, and are used repeatedly in the novel.
• As in most any business, the fictional Corleones develop terms and jargin that doesn’t always have a clear meaning when literally translated. One such example of these idioms is the phrase “make his bones,” used to cite a sort of initiation that young “buttonmen” must endure before becoming a respectable member of the Don’s family business. As another example of this use of idiom, Puzo writes, “the sly Turkish fox was going to show his bushy tail, Luca thought.”
• There is a lack of varied sentence structure in the novel, as well. I hesitate to call this style of writing unsophisticated; instead, its simplified text allows the plot to further progress in a way that is able to be understood and is more readily available to a wider audience.
• In dialogue between the brothers of the Corleone family, Puzo’s diction becomes colloquial and informal. For example, Sonny explains the plan for a rendezvous to his younger brother Micheal. Laughing, Sonny says, “That son of a bitch Solozzo, he really is something. Here’s the deal. At eight tonight he and Captain McCluskey pick Mike up in front of Dempsey’s bar on Broadway. They go someplace to talk, and get this. Mike and Sollozzo talk in Itallian so that the Irish cop don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. He even tells me, don’t worry, he knows McCluskey doesn’t know one word in Italian unless it’s ‘soldi’ and he’s checked you out, Mike, and…” (143). Puzo’s use of profanity and low level diction make his character Sonny seem cool and comfortable. His tone is ironically misleading, considering the danger of their subject, an arranged secret meeting with a drug trafficker and his burly, violent bodyguard.