Character Clues

Character Analysis

Clothing

You know clothing is going to be a big deal from the moment Prince Fabrizio freaks out over Don Calogero wearing a suit with tails to his house. For Fabrizio, suits with tails are reserved for only the highest members of Sicilian society, and in his eyes, Don Calogero is a nobody.

In pre-1860 Sicily, it wouldn't matter how much money a person had: if they weren't born into a noble family they were just common. But Calogero's bold choice to wear the symbol of high status in the Prince's own home just goes to show how much things are changing in Sicilian society.

Family Life

Fabrizio isn't the type to love someone just because he's supposed to. For example, he loves his nephew Tancredi more than his own son Paolo because Paolo is a spoiled brat who thinks he's entitled to Fabrizio's love (and his money) because he's the rightful heir.

But Tancredi has won Fabrizio's heart with his charm and intelligence. What's interesting about this situation is that it mirrors the changes that are occurring in Sicilian society in the book. People are no longer entitled to wealth and privilege just because they were born into a certain family. Now they have to earn their money, just as Paolo needs to earn his father's love.

Location

It's a bit of an understatement to say that Prince Fabrizio has a very deep sense of connection to the Salina family properties. After all, they go back in his family for hundreds of years. You can even draw a really good comparison to Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" in terms of dying families and their connection to the place they live.

It's this sense of connection with a certain place that will eventually be lost in modern, democratic Italy. Land will change hands all the time and will go to whoever happens to have the most money. There is a sense of tradition that gets lost in the shuffle, but don't expect the book to mourn for the aristocracy. The aristocracy had its day (and plenty of land to go along with it).

Social Status

At its heart, this book is about the loss of social status that happened when Sicily joined the modern country of Italy. Prince Fabrizio knows that he's set for the rest of his life in terms of money, but he has to deal with the fact that he won't be leaving much of a legacy for his family because their social status is going to dwindle to nothing once the elected government replaces the aristocracy. Along the way, Fabrizio realizes that the future belongs to "jackals" like Don Calogero: men who know how to exploit their opportunities and make a quick buck whenever they can.

Thoughts and Opinions

When it comes to the unification of Italy and the invasion of Sicily, you'll find some mixed opinions in the characters of this book. Father Pirrone, for example, shows his priorities when he criticizes unification because he's worried that the newly formed Italy will take away all the land belonging to the Catholic Church. Prince Fabrizio, on the other hand, doesn't really mind the process of unification because he thinks it's inevitable, even though he'll totally lose all of his princely power when the change comes. Paolo, on the other hand, hates unification because he wants to cling to all the status and power he's been born into without ever having to work for it.