Did vito ever attend school? he was 9 when he came to america, did he attend school in sicily prior to this? how about when he came to the U.S did he have an education of any kind?

dickie

I would venture to say that Vito probably attended school while in Sicily. Back in those days it was not uncommon for young immigrants to only get a 4th or 5th grade education. Back then there were no ESL classes so it was almost vitually impossible for an immigrant child to pick up in an Americn school where he or she may have left off in thier native country.


Don Cardi

In the early '900s, in Sicily there was no school for common people (so for almost everybody). In that time, the most part of Italians, especially in the South, was illiterate.

So, most probably, Vito never attended school.

Sal,

Thanks for the insight. I was never aware of that.


Don Cardi

it was the same in portugal, most people don't have more then a 7th grade education. but we have to agree, for someone who's uneducated, vito did pretty well i his life.

Thanks for your input fellas, i too think that it is astonishing for someone to have such a powerful mob family without EVER attending ANY educational institution, although Vito is fictional, it is possible for him to be smart without an education, and i bet Mr Puzo (R.I.P)knew this.


(Also Remember Tony soprano has a semester and a half of college!)

He had a real street education, and that was why he was able to survive the streets and build his empire.


Don Cardi

You're welcome!
In the South of Italy, the situation I described hasn't evolved until the 50s (in the North, which has always been more advanced, this evolution came formerly).

Don't you think that Vito had brains and will enough for self-education? I think he did.

Not being formally educated is understandable, but could Vito read English? Do we ever see him reading in GF or GF2 (I can't remember seeing him read)? In GF he finds it amusing that his grandson Anthony is reading the "funny papers".

I don't think that he finds it amusing that he can read, he finds it promising in such an early age. Of course he could read. Book states that he knew English really good even in youth, despite his slight accent, but sometimes he pretended otherwise. And how could he govern his company, if not? It is said that before he went out of his office and got shot, he just finished checking all the papers that his manager prepared for him.

JM,
I should have expanded on my statment that Vito found Anthony's reading the funny papers "amusing." Vito's reaction could mean many things; a grandfather's love and joy at knowing his grandson is reading at an early age, pride in his achievement, but from the perspective that Vito couldn't read, he could be relating his grandson's ability to read to his own inability and finds it ironic (amusing).

You still don't offer proof that in the GF and GF2 - the films - that Vito can read English. If the topic of this thread questions Vito's education, I just provided a premise to explore that possibility. If the book says he is "checking" the papers, that is not conclusive either, nor is his ability to run a company proof that he can read.

Yes, you need to be literate to check the papers. Otherwise, you won’t understand what is written in them…
I don’t really think that we need any proof that he was literate. It is obvious. He was running a business empire, and variety of its interests required his usage of many kinds of different information. If he needed to have always someone who would read and write for him, it would be inconvenience and Vito is not a man who would suffer under any inconvenience that he is able to remove. Besides, it implies having an unnecessary accomplice in everything he does and learns, and Vito was careful. And the most important, he would be unable to check and control everything in his business. Anyone could easily cheat him, if he could not check the papers himself. He was not a man who would give such a possibility, even if he trusted his partners; he kept his eye on everything.
Shortly, he needed to be literate; and if he found something necessary – what could stop him? He had a bright head, extraordinary will and self-discipline. It was not a difficult task in any way. After all, Clemenza and Tessio, having nearly the same possibilities, and much less abilities, were both literate. Why not he?
Really, it is not so very difficult to imagine him checking business papers. It is much more difficult to imagine Joey Zaza appreciating Shakespeare…
As to movies, they don’t really need to show us every detail about every ability of the character. That would be rather unbearable. We have many characters there, who never read while on the screen, but it cannot mean that they are illiterate.
BTW, I found one more proof in the novel that Vito could write: when he talks to the president of the bank, he says that he has his own written records of all his investments through fronts.