After the unification, the middle class or “Borghesia”, takes over because they were the ones with the most money and they were the ones that were able to adapt to this change, which was the unification of the country. This class was also divided on the inside as there were different types of “Borghesia”, and these were the “Grande”, “Media” and “Piccola” (Labini, 105), these can basically be translated into high, middle and low. Each subdivision of the middle class had different types of individuals ranging from entrepreneurs and administrators to merchants and private employees (Labini, 105). This wide range of people goes to show the amplitude of this class because there are a lot of individuals that work in these positions, thus making
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Going through the period of the unification we witness the “Borghesia” getting richer because they were getting more relevant for society and they found ways to getting more money, and as it regards to the nobility we can see that they are getting poorer since they weren’t able to adapt to the shift that was happening in the society. Politically there was a wide gap between these two classes during the second half of the 19th century. As I previously mentioned, after the country was united the bourgeoisie took over the political positions, and it was not only because of their acceptance of the new Italian government but it was also because they cheated the voting system as we see in “The Leopard”. In di Lampedusa’s book, the event that portrays this was when Don Calogero as the mayor held the vote for the plebiscite. In this occasion, the voting system was corrupted because the mayor announced the results as all being “Yes”, but it was clearly wrong because Ciccio Tumeo told Don Fabrizio that “I, Excellency, voted “no”. “No”, a hundred times “no”” (di Lampedusa, 111). Another aspect that set these two classes apart was education, as they had different views, and I will demonstrate this by using “The Leopard” once more. The nobility in southern Italy did not usually take advantage of their possibility to provide an education for their family …show more content…
Something that I have noticed throughout the reading was that we can observe what the various characters think about the others, thus showing the audience what each class thought about the other. The author offers many examples of its character’s thoughts all along the novel. When Don Calogero was first introduced to the audience, Don Fabrizio judges him for not having neat clothes as he entered the dining room. Don Fabrizio was thinking “Don Calogero’s tailcoat was a disastrous failure. The Material was excellent, the style modern, but the cut quite appalling” (di Lampedusa, 76). This episode occurs the first half of the book, so this was still at during the social shift, and the Prince was judging him because he knew that Calogero had money and could afford to get his clothes ready for that occasion. This is important because it shows that the new class did not retain their look as significant as the nobles did. Furthermore, Don Fabrizio was irritated because “Not only was he, the Prince, not the major landowner in Donnafugata, but he now found himself forced to receive… a guest in evening clothes” (di Lampedusa, 76). As the novel develops the characters develop with it and towards the end of the story many things change, most importantly the Prince’s personality changes as he feels and realizes that the era of the nobility is coming to an end.
Going through the period of the unification we witness the “Borghesia” getting richer because they were getting more relevant for society and they found ways to getting more money, and as it regards to the nobility we can see that they are getting poorer since they weren’t able to adapt to the shift that was happening in the society. Politically there was a wide gap between these two classes during the second half of the 19th century. As I previously mentioned, after the country was united the bourgeoisie took over the political positions, and it was not only because of their acceptance of the new Italian government but it was also because they cheated the voting system as we see in “The Leopard”. In di Lampedusa’s book, the event that portrays this was when Don Calogero as the mayor held the vote for the plebiscite. In this occasion, the voting system was corrupted because the mayor announced the results as all being “Yes”, but it was clearly wrong because Ciccio Tumeo told Don Fabrizio that “I, Excellency, voted “no”. “No”, a hundred times “no”” (di Lampedusa, 111). Another aspect that set these two classes apart was education, as they had different views, and I will demonstrate this by using “The Leopard” once more. The nobility in southern Italy did not usually take advantage of their possibility to provide an education for their family …show more content…
Something that I have noticed throughout the reading was that we can observe what the various characters think about the others, thus showing the audience what each class thought about the other. The author offers many examples of its character’s thoughts all along the novel. When Don Calogero was first introduced to the audience, Don Fabrizio judges him for not having neat clothes as he entered the dining room. Don Fabrizio was thinking “Don Calogero’s tailcoat was a disastrous failure. The Material was excellent, the style modern, but the cut quite appalling” (di Lampedusa, 76). This episode occurs the first half of the book, so this was still at during the social shift, and the Prince was judging him because he knew that Calogero had money and could afford to get his clothes ready for that occasion. This is important because it shows that the new class did not retain their look as significant as the nobles did. Furthermore, Don Fabrizio was irritated because “Not only was he, the Prince, not the major landowner in Donnafugata, but he now found himself forced to receive… a guest in evening clothes” (di Lampedusa, 76). As the novel develops the characters develop with it and towards the end of the story many things change, most importantly the Prince’s personality changes as he feels and realizes that the era of the nobility is coming to an end.