"Pasquale felt like he might be sick. He was trying so hard not to hit Michael Deane again- wondering what kind of man abandons a pregnant woman- when a realization came to him, so obvious that it hit him square in the chest, and he gasped. He'd never had a thought as physical as this one, like a kick to his gut: Here I am, angry at this man for abandoning a pregnant woman... While my own son is raised believing his mother is his sister. Pasquale flushed. He remembered crouching on the machine-gun nest and saying to Dee Moray; It is not always that simple. But it was. It was entirely simple. There was one kind of man who ran from such responsibility. He and Michael Deane were such men. He could no more hit this man than he could hit himself. Pasquale felt the sickness of his own hypocrisy and covered his mouth" (Walter 142).
I have not finished the book yet, but I found this passage to be one of the most interesting that I have read so far. Michael Deane and Pasquale from afar seem like completely different men. Pasquale seems like the perfect gentleman who is extremely selfless and devoted to keeping his family's dreams alive. Michael Deane appears to be a stuck-up Hollywood director who is selfish and close-minded. When these two men first meet however, some similarities stood out and intrigued me.
The fact that they both impregnated a women, and then distanced themselves from the woman and their child's life leads me to believe that Pasquale may not be as selfless as I had thought. Although Pasquale did not force his woman away like Michael Deane did, as far as I can tell neither men made an effort to follow-up and see how their child is doing. A huge flaw that they both share is fear. And, instead of overcoming this fear of how a child may impact their life, they pushed this "inconvenience" away so the futures they had had planned for themselves would not be impacted.
Another similarity between these two men is their fascination with Dee- the American actress who was impregnated by Michael Deane and is now staying at Pasquale's hotel in Italy. Both of them have this obsession with protecting her and keeping her happy that they do not show with other women. Pasquale shows this by staying close to her and holding her hand while she is experiencing morning sickness, and he also goes out of his way to travel to Rome to find this man who she has been waiting for. Pasquale also defends Dee when his aunt says derogatory things to her, and he looks for her approval over anyone else's. Even though he sent her away when he found out she was pregnant with his child, Michael Deane similarly wants to ensure that Dee still cares about him. He has a doctor give her a fake diagnosis of stomach cancer instead of revealing that she is pregnant which would lead her to believe that Michael Deane actually does have her best interest in mind. He also makes this clear while taking to Pasquale. "But please... tell her that once she's over her anger, if she remains cooperative, I'll get her all the film work she wants when we get back to the States. Could you tell her that? She could be a star if she wants to be" (Walter 142). Michael Deane wants to maintain a positive image of himself in Dee's mind because that is something that is very important to him.
As I said, I am not done with the book yet, but I am interested to read more about these two men in the present day, and look for more similarities between them. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Though there are undeniable similarities between Michael and Pasquale, they have two different levels of integrity(at least at a young age). I agree that Pasquale is more selfish than originally revealed in the first few chapters, but I think that there is some reasoning behind his actions.
ReplyDelete"Such a boy. Had he learned nothing? Did he really think she would let him throw his life away like that? And even if he really wanted to-which he clearly didn't-did he actually think she would marry a penniless boy from a peasant village? Did he really believe her father would allow such shame upon his family? And even if her father approved-and he would never approve-did he really think she would make a husband of such an aimless, uninformed boy, a boy she had seduced out of boredome? The last thing in the world she needed was another bad husband. On and on she went, until Pasquale could only mutter 'Yes, you're right,' and believe it."
While Pasquale may not have done the right thing in the end, I think he was sincerely trying to do what he thought was right, but Amedea and her family did not want him around. I believe that even though Pasquale may not have wanted to commit to raising a child he would have if Amedea let him because it was his responsibility.
Michael only throws money at his problems. He does tell Pasquale to send his apologies to Dee , it did not come across as sincere and it does not even come close to apologizing in person. At this stage in his life Michael cares more about his work than other people, while Pasquale has been more thoughtful of others.