The Contrasting of America and Italy in 'A View from the Bridge'.

Simon Clark 10W

The Contrasting of America and Italy in ‘A View from the Bridge’

Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge presents many different views of America, not only do you see America through the eyes of an Immigrant but also through the eyes of the regular working people, for instance the longshoremen.

Within Alfieri’s speech, we get our first ideas of what America was like for Eddie, Beatrice and Catherine. The speech highlights, cultural connections ‘Frankie Yale himself was cut precisely in half by a machine gun on the corner of Union Street’ this shows the influence and grip the Mafia had over American Culture in the 1950’s. When describing the area, where Eddie and Beatrice live, he describes it as ‘the slum that faces the bay’ which gives the impression, of a run down area where only the poor live. He uses the simile ‘the gullet of New York, swallowing the tonnage of the world.’ Which gives image of a place that has boats coming from all over the world laden with cargo and more. It gives Red Hook, the image of an unsightly place, where people have to work to their limit to feed and support their families.

In my opinion Eddie, Beatrice and Catherine are there to show the typical Italian American family of the 1950’s. Their house is what most of the longshoremen and their families would live in. It is only a small tenement flat. In the early section of Act One, Miller contrasts the flat, to the living conditions in Sicily and Southern Italy, he voices the comparison through Eddie’s response, to Beatrice’s worries about needing a new table cloth and cleaning the flat, which is ‘listen, they’ll think this it’s a millionaire’s house compared to the way they live.’ This is showing, why there were so many immigrants coming into America, the living conditions were so much better than in their countries, even the poorest were living like Kings in the eyes of the immigrants.

Catherine, I believe is symbolising the future, because she is the one, who wants to move on with her life, and become a stenographer and work for a company. But Eddie, who still believes in the archaic ways that the man should do the working, tries to discourage her from taking the job. In a way, Catherine being offered the job is showing the ‘American Way’ that anyone can get a job in America, even an immigrant.

But soon the conversation turns back to Beatrice’s immigrant cousins and about the American Immigration Bureau. This gives the image of a ...

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But soon the conversation turns back to Beatrice’s immigrant cousins and about the American Immigration Bureau. This gives the image of a country full of rules and regulations, a place where there is law and order, peace amongst the chaos of the rest of the world. To Marco and Rodolfo, the immigration bureau would be their first main obstacle, and then they would be able to make a new life in America. They then go on to talk about Vinny Bolzano. This short conversation gives you a taste of what life was like, and how the Italian Americans felt about ‘Stool Pigeons’ and what they think about their immigrant brethren.

Once, the Immigrants Marco and Rodolfo, come into the text, it gives you an immediate impression of the way they were living back in Sicily at the time, ‘ this will be the first house I ever walked into in America! Imagine! She said they were poor!’ is showing that the living conditions in Sicily and Southern Italy at the time were not equivalent to that of a working class citizen of America. Also when Eddie asks ‘Yiz ever work on the piers in Italy?’ the response is there are no piers in Italy, which is suggesting that America has a greater industry, trade network and economy then Southern Italy. Rodolfo goes on to say that there are only beaches and lots of fishing boats, and that they will do any work that comes ‘build a house, fix a bridge ‘ which brings Eddie to respond with ‘Still Bad there, heh?’ which gives the impression that he did not always live in America, and that he knows about the hardships. It also gives a huge contrast between America and Italy. It shows that America is a place where you can get a job, earn money and still have free time and money to spend, rather than having to work long hours, and rely on passengers of a train for work. Catherine adds to this contrast when she exclaims ‘You gotta push a taxi?’ because this would not have been a common occurrence in America, but Italy it would seem it was a regular and usual thing to do.

When Rodolfo asks how much money they could earn, Eddie astounds hem by saying thirty or forty dollars a week, which again shows the difference between the two cultures in an economic sense. Also when Rodolfo talks about his stint as a baritone singer, he says ‘money was falling like a storm in the treasury. It was Magnificent. We lived six months on that.’ Showing that money is not worth the same or is used the same way in the two different countries. It also highlights the two immigrants lives that they could live in luxury on ‘tips’ thrown at a small hotel concert.

After Alfieri’s Interlude, Eddie is complaining about Catherine and Rodolfo going to the theatre and Broadway so much. When Catherine returns, she tells them what a good picture or film they saw and that Rodolfo ‘can’t get over that there is no fountains in Brooklyn’ this is giving a contrast between the two cultures and the different architectural ideas that both cultures have.

In Act 2, America becomes a darker and more sinister place, no longer the glamorous place where everyone can get work and money. It starts with Catherine and Rodolfo alone in the flat and Catherine brings up the topic of possibly living in Italy once they get married, Rodolfo is surprised and dumbfounded, he replies saying ‘How can I bring you from a rich country to suffer in a poor country’ which really validates that America is a much better place, even the slum of America is better than Italy.

When Alfieri and Eddie are talking, the law and government of America are conveyed, and it portrays a society with laws and regulations where people can be safe and be in fear of getting attacked or there being a lack of health care or medicines. This really serves as another reminder of the differences between the two cultures involved in A View from the Bridge. It would also seem that Eddie is torn between two lives, his Life in America with his job and his house, or the life of the Italian with the ideas of Omertà.

Eddie in a fit of jealousy, leaks information about Marco and Rodolfo to the Immigration Bureau, committing a crime against his family and the Italian Community, thus distancing himself from his family and the two immigrants. This is shown with him sitting alone in his rocking chair. He demands an apology of sorts from Marco and Rodolfo, claiming he needs his respect back, bringing in the Italian Culture and the idea of the Mafia and respect, which really emphasises the Italian-American influences at the time A View from the Bridge, was written.

In my opinion, A View from the Bridge is not only about the people in the story, but also the cultures and societies they represent and how those cultures influenced many people’s lives and decisions at the time. The story is full of contrasts between American life and the Sicilian way of life showing the differences and similarities between the two.

Someone, who passes on information to the authorities

The Italian Code or Conspiracy of Silence