Deceit and Argument in Fontamara

            Ignazio Silone’s Fontamara is a story of deceit and injustice. The cafoni of Fontamara face lies and swindles at every turn throughout the story. The upper class landowners constantly take advantage of the cafoni’s lack of education by swindling them out of land, and money for taxes while the cafoni are left completely helpless.

            The first instance of deceit presented in Fontamara is when Hon. Pelino convinces the cafoni to sign a phony petition. The contract turns out to be a con. As the plot continues, the presence of deceit grows larger, for example, the scene where the cafoni confront Don Circostanza at his villa. The cafoni are upset that the landowners are taking their irrigation water, and a drunken Don Circostanza draws up a phony compromising promising three fourths of the water supply to both parties. However, the due to the cafoni’s lack of education, they agree to the compromise once again not knowing what they are signing off for. Eventually, the deceit grows into symptoms of a totalitarian regime, in this case Mussolini’s. Some examples are the ban on arguing and the curfew imposed on the Fontamaresi.

            Another very interesting moment in the novel is when Berardo compares the cafoni to donkeys. He claims, “A donkey requires a certain amount of stray but will not argue…it just doesn’t understand (or pretends not to understand). A cafone can be persuaded…to go without food…to give his life away to his master” (Silone 79). Berardo’s metaphor is repeated throughout the entire story. The cafoni of Fontamara are stuck in an endless cycle where, when they don’t stand up for their rights, they are ignored. When they do stand up for their rights they are deceived, ridiculed and stepped on. The more the cafoni argue, the more the landowners and the carabinieri play them.