Syntax
- “Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than government. It is almost the equal of family. Never forget that.” (38) The Don’s sentence structure is not always flowery, but this quote is especially laconic. It delivers one of the central messages of the novel, being the heavy importance of loyalty, honor, and tradition.
- To convey the importance of a sense of loyalty and stress the importance of protecting and cherishing loved ones, Puzo capitalizes the word “Family.” Generally this idiosyncrasy is found in the Don’s spoken dialogue, which is fitting because it cements this character’s personal philosophy.
- “Women can be careless. Not men.” Mario Puzo creates antithesis here, and it is symbolic of the barrier between sexes in the novel.
- Repetition of the phrase “It’s not personal, its business,” as well as its several variations, illustrates the theme of a desire to keep negotiations and business separate from feeling and emotion. This idea stresses that the realms of home and office should never mix. Personal feelings should never influence business decisions, but in reality, its not always easy to disregard emotion and history. Over all, the most important idea of this philosophy in the novel is that a “businessman’s” family, namely his wife and children, should remain unharmed.
I certainly feel that you did a fair job here, but I believe there may have been some overlap with your rhetorical strategies in this post, namely with antithesis. Nonetheless, your examples do appear to be valid as quotes with syntax that deviates from regular structure. Perhaps you could have benefited from either a few more examples or more in-depth analysis, but from the existent quotes, there is quality work to be seen. I must note that, as can be seen in your quotes, Puzo did excessively make use of telegraphic sentences, but, as you stated, he utilizes this to improve his own themes.
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