Little Caesar :: Historical Narrative Italy Papers

Little Caesar Shortly before noon on a Wednesday in October, 1894, the clients of a small-town Italian barber hook leisurely undergo the ritual of shaving. A group sit along the side wall and hand observations in phlegmatic, Neapolitan dialect, while the patron in the barbers c copper listens. Occasionally, betwixt strokes of the razor through thick stubble, the barber adds his opinion to the conversation. A yoke of young children regularly chase each other through the shop and are peremptorily ordered back out. A young universe rushes in off the street and declares himself, somewhat unnecessarily, to be in a hurry. The older men are silent for a moment and portion out disapproving and curious glances while he climbs into the chair and the barber begins to scald his face. With hazel eyes and sharp features, 22-year-old Giuseppe Zambarano stands out in a conference of swarthy peasant stock. His closely trimmed moustache and neat hair already appear well-groomed, his overal l appearance verges on fastidious. He announces to the barbershop listening that he is getting engaged today. He will receive his vow and her family at two oclock in his male parents house. The men offer formal gaze to young Giuseppe on his engagement, and perhaps some patronizing words of comprehension Moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi Take wife and cattle from your own village. The men in the barbershop know that Giuseppes future in-laws, like most of them, come from the same trilateral of villages in the back-country of Campania. Fontegreca, Ciorlano, and Prata Sannita lie two hilly miles. walk from the last spot on the Naples line. Now many of the squat cottages there stand empty. close of the one thousand or so natives of these villages make their homes a unretentive way from the terminal of the Cranston St. trolley car, in Thornton, Rhode Is consume, on farm land that resembles the fertile hills of the old country, with island-dotted Narragansett Bay like a reflection of N aples in the background.* * *As a yet unmarried youngest son, Giuseppe Zambarano lives in the home of his father Gioacchino and his uncle Lorenzo, a modest wooden affair in the heart of this ontogeny neighborhood. The Zambarano brothers of the older generation disembarked in 1882 to join the so-called pick and spadeful brigade of new immigrants, who tilled the land in Thornton and Simmonsville, as they had in Italy.Now many of the early arrivals have become disenchanted with the lowering conditions and meager returns of family farming that drove them from the Italian countryside in the first place.