Eddie is a rat and belongs in the sewer; discuss using reference to the play.

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Eddie is a rat and belongs in the sewer; discuss using reference to the play. Alfieri is a lawyer who works for the Sicilian community in Brooklyn. He opens the play with a very exposing account of what life used to be like and is like in that particular community. The audience knows from that speech everything about Alfieri and about the community in Red Hook. He launches into graphic detail about past bandits and murders and about how justice is very important to the Italians. The community is the ‘gullet of New York,’ which is ‘swallowing the tonnage of the world.’ This sentence is quite ironic since Red Hook is a fishing town and tonnage is another word for cargo. Alfieri speaks as though Red Hook has swallowed up all the complications of the world and is now reduced to a slum. This creates a vivid mental picture and therefore invents the ideal environment for tragic goings on. Alfieri also utters an intriguing statement, ‘now we settle for half.’ This proclamation gives the impression that in this Italian community pride and justice is fierce and that no one will settle for half of what they believe is right. Alfieri makes this statement in the past tense leaving the question did the events that Alfieri witness determine whether people settle for half. He also wonders if there is another unfortunate lawyer sitting back, unable to do anything as the events, ‘run their bloody course.’ The indirect reference to blood creates another question about whether blood will be shed, considering the Italian community has a reputation to fight to the death. Alfieri is essential to the structure of the play as he opens and closes the play. I believe that he is Arthur Miller's mouthpiece and he moves the action that Miller has once witnessed. Eddie Carbone is then introduced as a ‘slightly overweight longshoreman’ and we see straight away that he is a character of authority when Catherine appears and waits on him in an affectionate way. Catherine is an 18-year old who, because of her mother's death is living with her Aunt Beatrice and her husband, Eddie. Eddie has taken upon himself to be a father to Catherine and to give her the very best in life. Therefore, because of his ‘fatherly’ affections Eddie and Catherine have developed a close family relationship. Eddie’s first comments to Catherine this early in the play are all centred on Catherine’s appearance. References made about her hair, clothes and about her ‘walkin’ wavy.’ This obsessive attention to Catherine’s physical appearance is extremely questionable especially when he asks her to turn around so he can see her back. When Eddie becomes quite adamant that he disapproves of the way she walks, Catherine is ‘almost in tears.’ This simple act of crying shows the audience immediately how naive and vulnerable she is. In today’s society, it would be very unusual to see a girl of eighteen so dependent on her guardian to live at that stage. It is obvious however that she views him only as a father figure because she gets upset over the things that he says. She almost reduces herself to a baby just for him, to please him and in this way, she is almost behaving in a coquettish manner towards Eddie. She is always running around after him, getting him a beer or a cigar and she constantly looks for his approval. Eddie’s intentions here are and throughout the next section of the play, questionable. Is he attracted or is it just parental pride? Although the audience do not know what to expect from this first section, it is already obvious that the relationship that Eddie has with Catherine is not natural. When Catherine forms a barricade with Beatrice and asks Eddie if she can accept a job, Eddie’s emotions become confused. Eddie seems to dampen everything that Catherine wants to do, however with further persuasion from Beatrice he gives in after calling Catherine, ‘Madonna’ and carrying on for a long time. It is very apparent the obsessive concern that Eddie has for Catherine is out of place. When Beatrice confronts him, ‘are you goin’ to keep her in the house forever?’ Eddie is very defensive, almost overly defensive. If Eddie does not settle for half and he wants Catherine, heavy events could certainly follow because he
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certainly cannot get Catherine.The play then plummets into the arrival of Beatrice’s two cousins from Italy who are illegal immigrants. Eddie is shown here as a very caring husband over the incident with the tablecloth and he offers to go down and buy a new one if it would make Beatrice happy. The ‘honour’ that is bestowed upon the family as Eddie says, is pride. The law does not matter in this community - they make the rules. Eddie ironically tells the tragic story of Vinny Bonzano who told the Immigration Bureau that his uncle was an illegal immigrant and ...

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