Originally posted by Dona:
I just sometimes get a little impatient with the attitude a lot of people seem to have -- that Michael was 100% justified in everything he did and that anyone who questioned any of it was a bitch, a traitor, hopelessly naive, etc., etc., etc. We're talking about a man who commits multiple murders and runs a national crime syndicate. There's room for questioning.
And since this hasn't a thing to do with Mama Corleone, I'll shut up now.
Don't.
You're bringing up a point that we make all too often here; and that is how we glamorize these guys. Mike was a son-of-a-bitch when it came to how he treated Kay. BUT, its important to remember that Mike was a product of his heritage and of the times. He repented somewhat in Part III and its shown in how he treated Kay then (yes, it was too late then, though).
Part of Mike's "problems" in Part II was the Americanization of the times and of his life. For all his insisting that he wasn't like his father, he was a lot like him in his treatment of women. Vito was respectful of them (women) but he also "kept them in their place". Women, especially the old-world Italian women, were not supposed to question their husbands. Kay was the product of a different background; one in which it was acceptable for a woman to be more forward in her relationship with her husband.
