“Rosso Malpelo” – Giovanni Verga: analysis

The extract is the latest part of the same named novel by the Italian poet Giovanni Verga. The novel narrates the story of a young man who has always worked in a mine. After his father’s death and his best friend’s one, he feels abandoned by his mother and his sister. For this reason, Malpelo agrees to explore a gallery in what is called a dangerous mission that no one else wanted to do.

The title posed to the extract by the textbook is the name of the protagonist of the novel, so it does not create any expectation in the reader’s mind. What creates curiosity in the reader is the position of the extract in the novel: it is located at the end of the composition and the reader might ask himself if it contains the death of Malpelo.

The reader can find the answer to the question while the analysis of the extract. The text can be divided into three sequences according to the division into paragraphs:

-          The first contains the presentation and the anticipation of the text core: the death of the protagonist;

-          The second exposes some features of the main character and narrates the focus of the extract;

-          The third one speaks about the consequences of the focus on the rest of the characters.

After the delineation of the arguments of the three sequences, we can now analyse how the writer expresses them.

The first one compare the fate of Malpelo and that of his father. They are both death in the pit but they died in different ways and for different reasons. The hypothesis of the reader is exact; thanks to the anticipation of the protagonist’s death while the expression le ossa le lasciò nella cava: Malpelo will not return out of the mine and the reference of the bones recalls his death. However, why is he dead? And how is he dead? The motivation of his passing away is contained in the first paragraph too: the exploration was dangerous, there was the pericolo di smarrirsi e non tornare mai più; the dangerof dyingandnot to return. The risk was so high that no one wanted to accept to go into the mine not even per tutto l’oro del mondo, for all world’s gold. With the two precedent expressions, the danger of the exploration is highlighted and increased. Malpelo’s death into the mine becomes a logical consequence of his agreement of doing it. Why does he accept doing the exploration? What does it happen to him?

The answer at the first question is contained in the initial sentences of the second sequence. The second paragraph opens with another comparison: between the protagonist and the other men working in the mine. While they do not want to go in that part of the mine, having children and a family, Malpelo wants to do the exploration. He does not have children but we know that he has a mother and a sister. So also the protagonist has a family but anyway he agrees to go in the mine. He does not think about his family; he does not consider the two women as his family. Indeed, he feels alone and no one could ever worry about his situation; as exploits the Italian expression non aveva nessuno che si prendesse tutto l’oro del mondo. Malpelo is presented as a lonely young man. In the same sentence are contained other features of the person: la sua pelle valeva tanto bring to surface his virtue. Malpelo is characterized by conflicting characteristics, which made himsuitable for conductingthe expedition. After the motivation of Malpelo’s participation to the mission, there is a recall to its danger: Malpelo remembers of the disappear of another miner sent to explore the same gallery that has to explore him. This third juxtaposition is a recall to Malpelo’s fate: he will disappear and die in the gallery as happened to the other miner. Another anticipation of what is going to happen is the fact that the protagonist takes his father’s tools to go down. The same tools will bring his to the same end of his father: will bring him to death.

The readers suspect of death as regard the protagonist of the novel finds confirmation in the latest part of the second paragraph: non si seppe più nulla di lui, confirms not only his death into the mine, as his father’s one, but also his disappear during the exploration, as happened to the other miner. In this way, Malpelo becomes the miner par excellence: he dies with the worst death for a miner, losing in a gallery without coming out.

The third paragraph is the conclusion of the extract: it recalls the death of the protagonist and highlights his consequences. After Malpelo is passing, the other miners fear of meeting his ghost in the tunnels and never speak of him down there. In this way, there is a slight reference to superstitions circulating at the time of Verga regarding the possibility of view or revenge after death. The third sequence closes with a reference to the protagonist’s physical appearance.

In conclusion, we can say that all the questions the reader has initially posed have find an answer during the analysis. The extract contains Malpelo’s death; it became in the same place of his father’s but not in the same way of it. Malpelo explored a galley and got lost. This is the worst thing that can happen to a miner and Malpelo story is a manifest of miners’ lives conditions at the writer’s time.