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Essay / How Don Fabrizio's novel considers the unity of Italy as shown in Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa's novel The Leopard
Occurring at the same time as the unification of Germany, the unification of Italy in the late 1800s was a complete shock to every other state on the European continent and a total victory for the state of Sardinia and Piedmont, changing the life of the new founding of the group known as the Italians. While Germany and Italy were similar in forming a unified state, nothing compares to the depiction of Italian unification, through the eyes of Don Fabrizio, in the great novel The Leopard. The Leopard, originally published in 1958 and written by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, sails through unified Italy in the eyes of a prince in one of the nine states of ancient Italy, of which is represented, in his kingdom, the symbol of the animal the leopard. Overall, the text is a brilliant depiction of the effect of this warlike and revolutionary taint of the ancient mores of historic Italy and its consequences on the nobles, who resisted as long as they could and did not. never saw it coming. Through Lampedusa's brilliant use of history, in The Leopard the reader sees three of the founding moments of the unification of this historic state, among them the lack of presentation of the fact that the unification was going to happen in first, the revolutionary action plan and trend that spread across the state, and the warrior mansion whose unification took place. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay While The Leopard is a primary reflection of the suffering that followed the lives of nobles, except those who led the unification of Piedmont, through the In the eyes of Don Fabrizio and his family, a generalization of the unification that can be seen in the writings of Lampedusa is the condition for Italy not to be destined to this process. Besides the resistance of the nobles, historically the unification of Italy was not planned due to the nine traditional states within the future Italy and their traditional form of separation, the wish of Austria-Hungary and the European concert to maintain apart potential power, and cultural separation within the region; However, in the text, the most important factor that lacked a prediction of unification was the deep and rich establishment of the nobles and the nine states, each hoping to keep their languages and cultures separate. We first see this separation of states and the unpredictability of Italy's unification when Don Colagero, at Donnafugata, states: "(Until) my arrival, we were an unlucky group, buried in the provinces and without distinction, but I have the documents. in order, and one day we will know that your nephew married Baroness Sedara del Biscotto” (Lampedusa, 130) Although Don Colagero, in the novel, is a member of this new revolutionary government, he reflects here on the intense barrier that was raised against this revolutionary wave in the provincial, noble and historical system. Although he does not agree with this, he reflects here that it is extremely difficult to overcome, which is why it was not expected that there would be unification in Italy in the late 1800s. Earlier, we see Don Fabrizio, in turn the main noble in resistance to this impending battle, reflecting on the class system that is unpredictably collapsing, when he writes: "Between pride and his mother's intellectuality and his mother's sensuality and irresponsibility. his father, poor Prince Fabrizio, lived in perpetual discontent, under hisfrown of Jove, watching the ruin of his own class heritage without ever doing, much less wanting to do, nor more to save it” (Lampedusa, 9). Here, although he recognizes the transition, Don Fabrizio shows to what extent the noble and provincial system stagnates, before this unpredictable fate for the unified future. Italy, for its part, does not yet even accept that it is Italian with the rest of the peninsula. Finally, we witness a final moment of shock that a unification is in action at the moment when the prince is initiated into these revolutionary ways. We see this when the author reflects on the prince, stating: “The prince felt humiliated, reduced to the rank of someone protected by Russo's friends; his only merit, as far as he could see, was to be the uncle of this kid from Tancredi” (Lampedusa, 34). Although unification occurred and was unanticipated, it was not the only feature of the process reflected in Lampedusa's writings. Just because the atmosphere did not predict the unification of the Italian states does not mean it did not occur, thus allowing several other characteristics of the revolutionary movement to become present. The next feature of the unification of Italy, preceding the improbable future of unification provided by the structure of the states about to be unified before, is the surprising result that the state was unified by a single force and spread like the plague across the provinces as a movement, of which, in the text, Don Fabrizio is accompanied by. This continued result was also seen during the unification of Germany, around the same time. This spread of the revolution between the provinces, influenced by the only character uniting the State, the kingdom of Sardinia, is seen, in the text, among the nobility, notably among Fabrizio's nephew, as well as in the public. We first see this expansion of support for this warlike process of revolution and unification of the main players, when the author reflects on Fabrizio's thoughts, when the author states: "(Now) he knew who had been killed in Donnafugata, at one point. a hundred other places, during the night of the dirty wind: a newborn: in good faith: precisely the child who should have been most cared for” (Lampedusa, 111). Here the reader can make a comparison: the dirty wind, the revolution generated by the sole actor of the “dirty wind”, Sardinia, spread to the hundred localities of the nine states of Italy and the newborn “ killed” was the historical innocent. noble and provincial culture. Although in the form of an artistic metaphor created by the author, the comparison is made reflecting this action of a single actor of unification and revolution and the diffusion of his ideas among the public and every place where the ideas can seize. Secondly, we see this continuing theme throughout Italian unification in the text when Don Fabrizio realizes that the wind of revolution, of influence from Sardinia, has reached his province, when it says: “Don Fabrizio sighed. When would she decide to have a less fleeting meeting, far from carcasses and blood, in her own region of eternal certainty? (Lampedusa, 238). He sees here at this moment in the text this influence of the first unifying region of his own kingdom, despite his desire to save his province from this revolutionary moment. Finally, in relation to this classification of the era of Italian unification, a final moment where we see the continuation of unification through the single dominant province and its spread of ideas like a "dirty wind" , as the author says, through public opinion and even the private detective of the noble class is visible when it is stated in the text: “(The) blow to his pride by the father's tailcoat was now repeatedby the appearance of the girl” (Lampedusa, 77). At this moment in Donnafugata, guests and new government figures arrive as guests in Fabrizio's residence and it is clear, in his reaction, that the wave of revolution and the new culture of unifying power has expanded, reflecting this characteristic global of the time. of Italian unification; However, although they have become a characteristic of the revolution, like the previous statutes of the states, unpredictable of the revolution, and this unique unifying and very influential status of the state, power of the main force, Sardinia, another Common feature during this period was the fact that unification occurred by force of war and not by mutual agreement. Alongside Germany's interior and the pursuit of several other factors throughout the unification of the Mediterranean-bordered state, war was the primary form of force in this process, clearly through the perception of Don Fabrizio, in The Leopard, with the sole support of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Although diplomatic means have been and have been used in other states to unify, while war is usually paramount, given the status of the nine states previously and the improbability of prior unification, this being the first feature discussed, it was the best and most efficient option. found by the main and unifying actor, Sardinia. We see a reflection on this war process, when Don Fabrizio states: "To sleep, my dear Chevalley, to sleep, is what the Sicilians want, and they will always hate anyone who tries to wake them, even to get them to wake up . the most wonderful gift” (Lampedusa, 177-178). As we saw previously in the newborn metaphor, once again a metaphor is used to reflect the Sicilians awakened by the military and warlike force that brings about this revolution. Don Fabrizio, here, attempts to use violent warlike force in his argument against unification and this revolutionary movement, while nonetheless reflecting the warlike state. Next, Fabrizio reflects on this military state in a more direct statement, when he reflects once more: “(Our) sensuality is a desire for oblivion, our shots and our knives are a desire for death; our laziness, our spicy and drugged sorbets, a desire for voluptuous immobility, that is to say, for death again” (Lampedusa, 178). Here, through the use of verbs like “shoot and stab,” we see the military, warlike state that enabled unification. Although he speaks about the state of human nature, particularly as it relates to Sicilians, it is clear that the warlike nature of this movement, against his will, reflects his way of thinking about human interaction, conduct nature and life in general. Finally, a last reference, in the body of the text, reflects the character of a process of warlike unification, when it is written: “The soul of the Prince stretched towards (the stars), towards the intangible, the inaccessible, who gave joy without asking for anything in return” (Lampedusa, 83). Once again, the language used to describe a situation and recount the life of Don, Prince Fabrizio shows how the warlike character of the unification process, through the unique actor of Sardinia, of Italy, was used in this movement towards this new structure. Stating directly and indirectly in all areas of the text, despite thinking about the unique angle of unification through the eyes of this noble family, we see the common feature of the historical movement that was associated with the warlike process. Keep in mind: This is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our editors now.