What do we learn of the Carbone family and their values in Act 1 of 'A View From The Bridge'?

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What do we learn of the Carbone family and their values in Act 1 of 'A View From The Bridge'?

In A View From The Bridge, the audience is introduced with three prominent characters who are Eddie Carbone, Catherine Carbone and Beatrice Carbone. All of these characters show their unique qualities in the sense that Eddie is a much more demanding person, whereas Beatrice can be seen as a weaker person who is inclined to follow her husband Eddie in a patriarchal society and Catherine who is loose in terms of her actions and naive through her words. The family's values are very strict as the reader can infer from the story of Vinny Bolzano.

First of all, Eddie Carbone is a simple person who is a victim of circumstances but he also contributes to his own downfall. He works as a longshoreman at the Brooklyn Docks. Eddie is characteristically uneducated but still is a very hardworking man. He is presented as being dignified and having integrity by being proud and honest. These characteristics are seen from him when he says to Beatrice that, "All I'm worried about is you got such a heart...too big a heart". This shows that Eddie is observant and he is mindful of the fact that his wife can be over-exploited at occasions like when he describes the story of his father-in-law's house burning down. He believes he should be the leader of his house. This can be seen as he talks to Catherine about her new job as a stenographer, 'Why didn't you ask me before you take a job?' This shows that he wanted Catherine to ask for permission and to authorise it from himself. This manly character of Eddie means that he feels as the boss of his house and that he would be insulted if not done otherwise. This is one of the cause of his collapse at the end of the story - being too masculine that he couldn't show his emotions as everything was bottled inside. Eddie is also an affectionate and big-hearted man, which can be seen by his esteem for Marco and Rodolfo when they come to stay. For example at what time Marco tells Eddie in a formal manner, that ‘when you say go, we will go’ Eddie’s response to this was that they’re ‘welcome’ he also adds that they’ve ‘got plenty of room here’. Eddie also believes in family loyalties, this is mainly due to the tightly bound Sicilian community that he comes from originally.

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Eddie is over-protective towards Catherine and this can be seen from the apparel that Catherine wears and shows it to Eddie in a very excitedly manner. This is shown when he says ‘I think it’s too short’. Eddie feels more affection for Catherine than is natural for a man towards his niece. ‘Catherine, I don’t want to be a pest, but I’m tellin’ you...you’re walkin’ wavy'. Eddie said this phrase when Catherine wears a new skirt she had brought, to show Eddie. He is concerned that she will receive attention from men, which Eddie doesn’t like as he thinks of ...

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