Fontamara

Although it is difficult to analyze this text without the proper historical background knowledge, I thought that a message was quite clear. At the very end of the novel, the phrase "What are we to do?" was repeated a few times. While some of my classmates believed that this phrase was a sign of hope for the cafoni people, or perhaps for Italy as a whole, I disagree. This phrase gave me the impression that there was a loss of hope and that the narrator harbored a pessimistic view of the future. I cannot imagine that after learning of the attack on the people of his village (the father was narrating at this point) the narrator would have positive thoughts of any kind. The book repeatedly gave examples of the Fontamarasei being mistreated and betrayed by those that they put their faith in, such as Don Circostanza. With the unfair partitioning of their stream, being cheated out of payment for work, and having their village violated by the carabinieri, Silone shows how cruel the Fascist regime could be; the cafoni could not avoid being dragged into politics that they had no knowledge of, and had no way of defending themselves against the cunning authorities.

Since Silone's brother was beaten to death in prison for being a part of the Italian Communist Party I believe that he is using Berardo to represent his brother. On page 163, Berardo says "If I betray, Fontamara will be damned forever. If I betray, centuries will pass before another such opportunity arises. And if I die? It will be the first time that a cafone dies, not for himself, but for others." The communist belief was that a classless society should be formed, and in Berardo's last days he believed in sacrificing himself for the greater good, regardless of if they were a cafone or not. The Avezzano man appears to have convinced him of some of these communist ideals, "We've been asleep only too long." says Berardo when the narrator notices a change in the man. This statement implies that he has adopted some new mentality that the Avezzano man has convinced him is better than the old, work to live outlook that he was focused on before that night.

In the Foreward, Alexander Stille talks about Silone's role as a double-agent who gave inside information to the Fascists. I think that the Mystery Man in Fontamara represents Silone, who was a founding member of the Italian Communist Party and yet betrayed his own cause for the opposition. Whether he was blackmailed into doing such a thing was unclear, but I believe it kept him from ending up dead as his brother had. The Mystery Man, who I deduced was the Avezzano man, was released from prison with very little harassment, possibly because he revealed details about the revolution. Silone is making the subtle point that although this man may have betrayed those who had faith in him, it was because he had no choice, and in the end his belief in the revolutionary cause never ceased.