Originally posted by Don Marco:
It didn't seem like the life expectancy of anyone in Sicily was very long anyway. He probably figured that why not go with an obviously wealthy foreigner than one of the locals that would probably end up dead anyway.
I agree, Don Marco. Plus, the novel says of Vitelli that Michael's thunderbolt "was one of those wild strokes of good fortune that Sicilians always believed in, something told him that his daughter's beauty would make her forune and her family secure." This little passage has the ring of authenticity: A guy like Vitelli, with limited prospects for himself and his family in a remote, backward corner of the world, and with a goog-looking daughter to marry off to some local ne'er do well, might very well have cast caution to the wind when this influential foreigner showed up.
