In light of this statement, compare how morality and society is used to shape the mentality of the characters in Brighton Rock and The Godfather
Morality is highly affected by environment i.e. immigrant society.
The Don himself cuts a generalised God figure, with shades of the forgiving Christian God and the more capricious Zeus. Upon adoption, Tom Hagen is saved from “blindness” by the Godfather, and he both literally and symbolically “sees the light.” Hagen owes his whole world – everything that he can see, in other words – to the Godfather. The influence of the Don indeed begins the very moment when one wakes up, for it is waiting in that most secret and innermost place, the warmth of one’s bed. We are told of Hagen that, “Some mornings when he woke the face of Don Corleone was imprinted on his brain in that first conscious moment and he would feel safe.” This line will later contrast with Jack Woltz‘s own “first conscious moment,” in which he finds the head of his pet racehorse rather than the face of Don Corleone in his bed. The Don will slip under many covers if the Corleones “go to the mattresses,” almost suggesting a warfare conducted in bed.
When the Don arrives at the death bed of Genco Abbandando, the doctor is made to understand that his own “role was over.” The Don cannot save Genco from death, however, and he disapproves of the dying man’s “blasphemous delirium” in asking this of him. If the Don means no disrespect to the true Deity, he can sentimentally imagine improvements to the present regime: “I have no such powers. If I did I would be more merciful than God, believe me.”"
“If a bolt of lightening hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That’s what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal. Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes.”
Rather paradoxically, the Godfather will owe everything to Fate...