The Negative Character Arc Of Vito Scaletta Part 3: Act 2

The Negative Character Arc of Vito Scaletta Part 3: Act 2

Remember that character arc essay I was going to do? Me neither. Geez. It feels like I’ve posted more today than I have in the last few months combined. Thanks lack of giving a fuck with school and upcoming finals. I’m doing part time school next semester, so hopefully it won’t be so bad (it’s has been a BAD semester guys). The next one will be published tomorrow.

In writing, the second act is the story’s ‘rising action’ and shows the character’s various attempts to solve the problem that came from the last character arc, usually finding themselves stuck in increasingly worse or higher stakes situations. This is where the meat of the character arc (or the slow burn aspect of it) takes place. Quick warning: this is going to be a LONG post. I’m going to try and just use the basics, but the second act of this story covers the second half of Enemy of the State all the way to A Friend of Ours. That’s eight out of sixteen missions (fifteen if you don’t count the unplayable prologue). A lot of character interactions are going to be left out, simply because there’s a lot here and I’m just going to relate it to the character arc. This does mean that what we do have of Joe’s arc here is going to be left out as well. For those that read these, let me know if you want me to do a short part 5 about Joe’s aborted positive character arc or not. Let’s get on with it!

Beat 4: The First Pinch Point (Series of Discomforting Events)

The fourth beat (or the first of act two) is the story’s conflict firmly underway; the tutorial is over baby. In a negative character arc, we have several events that are firmly in place to shake the lie and the truth that the character is facing, but we are only starting the second act. For the disillusionment arc, the events are meant to show the tragic truth that the character will eventually come to, but they repeatedly cling to the lie instead. They end up being repeatedly ‘punished’ for this until the next beat. It’s important to note that this is a SERIES of events, not a single one.

Most obviously this starts with the mess of the OPA job and its aftermath. Now, nothing about the job directly is the issue (yet), but the way the stamps are handled afterwards (not getting enough money) counts as a little punishment, and it is instrumental in helping him achieve the midpoint. Murphy’s law is another one (one that also affects the midpoint), as it’s a robbery that ends up as a catastrophe of blood and without a payout. The only mission that doesn’t really fit for this part is The Buzzsaw. The Buzzsaw is still a very important chapter, but it is more important for the establishment of Vito and Joe and what exactly they’re willing to do. It also references the fact that Vito has already killed, further emphasizing how the system spat him out.

Beat 5: The Midpoint

You should be halfway through your story by now and suddenly an event occurs that forces your character to confront their Lie and Truth, but, unlike all of the previous small events, the consequences of this are irreversible: your character recognizes the other side for what it is. In the Disillusionment arc, this means your character can now mentally articulate the tragic truth they will eventually come to, questioning the Lie they’ve believed for the first time. Do keep in mind that they are still not embracing the Truth, they just realize that it is an option or compare it to their Lie seriously for the first time. An important point to make is that they may not voice the thought or even realize this themselves, but it is part of their psyche.

Here I will take a quick sidestep to talk about the ‘Tragic Truth’ of the story. I’ve been avoiding it up until now because of how important this is and how quietly the midpoint reveals it. So, Vito’s normal world is one in which people are either at the whims of the system or they’re part of the group that runs it. His Lie is that he needs influence to be part of the group that runs it (or subverts it while running it as the mob do), and this is needed for his happiness. The truth, the tragic unfortunate truth, is that it is not possible for Vito to achieve his wants by operating under his Lie. The Truth of this story is that everyone is at the whims of a system, regardless of the appearance of power and influence and only a select few are excluded from that group (usually beholden to each other). More importantly (and the part Vito won’t realize until the very end), the system was against Vito from the beginning. He is the son of a poor immigrant that got stuck working an awful job. His forays into the mafia kept him as an associate or soldato and, despite his connections, he just wasn’t the kind of person that could achieve the success he wanted. The problem with that is that Vito tries so hard to be an adult, to be independent, when so much of his adult life and formative years are spent in surroundings of violence where independence is taken from you. The dice were loaded and the deck was stacked; he didn’t stand a chance.

This is important, because the midpoint of our story occurs when Vito is thrown into a new system, one he will spend six years in. I’m talking about Time Well Spent. (Hoo boy).

Up until he gets arrested, Vito has been gaining clout with the mafia. He believes that he has a decent ranking and has made a name for himself. You may be wondering how him getting arrested might shake his Lie, considering that arrest is an expected part of a criminal lifestyle. This comes less from the fact that he got arrested and more from the fact that he got no support afterwards. Luca Gurino hires a lawyer, ostensibly to get Vito out of prison, but it is quickly pointed out that he is there more to keep Vito quiet. Vito thought that his maturity would allow him to take care of himself, that the connections he was getting would help him solve these problems, but they did not. He thought that with his new adulthood, he could help take care of his family, but instead his mother dies and all of the money he had been saving went to his sister, not to take care of her but for a funeral. Everything he had gained (’earned’) was gone, and the person that helps him get out of is it Joe, but telling him that prison operates under a different system. Joe points Vito in the direction of Leo Galante, who operates as a father figure by helping Vito navigate his Normal World in the way Vito’s father couldn’t. Leo is aware of the truth and even hints at it when we see how he is in prison. The prison system works for Leo, but even he admits that he operates under the will of others.

Vito can articulate his tragic truth: there is always a system. Someone always works for someone, and his lifestyle, the Lie he believes, will not get him the money, power, and maturity he craves. However, this is only the midpoint. This is not something that Vito believes, but a worldview that he recognizes is there. To him, he realizes that his previous Lie was incorrect, but instead choses to expand his Lie and incorporate part of the Tragic Truth into it. Sure, there will always be a system and what he was doing before wasn’t working. This was made clear when Leo Galante points out that Vito and Joe were getting duped and that the whole road to being Made Men that they were on was just a way to keep them busy. Now, however, he’s found someone new who can get him the success he craves. He still has a chance. Vito hasn’t realized that he never did.

Beat 6: The Second Pinch Point (Series of Devolving Events)

By now, the protagonist has seen the Truth (in this kind of arc) and can no longer look away. More and more they see how their Lie no longer functions the way it should. They see the limits. They start to use the Truth to operate in their world, no longer relying on their Lie, and this rewards them and allows them to get the thing they want. Vito is a unique case because of how closely his Lie and Truth are intertwined. The real difference is in whether or not he can succeed in the system that he is in and how. If he believes his Lie, Vito continues to operate as if he can actually gain something by working in the mafia, which he will do for the majority of these missions. The Truth shows him that it doesn’t and it won’t work. At the beginning of the In Loving Memory of Francesco Potenza, it does appear that everything has worked out and Vito’s new estimation of who is actually in charge has landed him a powerful ally; after all, Leo got him out of prison four years early. As the chapter goes on, however, Vito’s celebration is at the whims of Eddie Scarpa, to the point where they end the chapter burying a body for him because (in that moment) they are his lackies. It’s more played for comedy, so not really significant, but it is something to consider.

The Wild Ones and Balls and Beans stand in stark contrast to one another. This is because the Wild Ones furthers our story while Balls and Beans is a significant ‘step back’ or so it would appear. In the Wild Ones, Joe’s cigarette scheme ends with them having reality shoved in their face when the stock is messed up and they end up owing Eddie tons of money, both hurting their reputations and making it clear that the camaraderie they felt the previous night meant nothing when the chips were down. Opposed to that is Balls and Beans, where Vito gets of a glimpse of ‘mafia loyalty’ and becomes a made men. For me, that whole encounter was tinged with some bitterness, despite how victorious Vito probably felt. This is also major set up for act 3, but I will get there when I get there. Room Service is important mostly for Joe, but it just is another moment where Vito sees how disposable the people are and how fragile the peace between the mob families are when he and Joe are instructed to really start a war.

This comes to a head when Vito operates using his Tragic Truth by saving Leo Galante in A Friend of Ours. He is still clinging to his Lie to a certain degree by believing that he is important to Leo Galante (which, to be fair, he is; just not as much as he believes), but he also recognizes some of the truth of the system. Who is he if Leo Galante is disposable? The man was someone that everyone respected, but now his death is being ordered, and it is his friend that has to do it. On this lower level, Vito recognizes that there is no honor among thieves, but there can be among friends. He is seeing that the system he believes that can make him successful will do nothing to help him at the end of the day. So, he takes matters into his own hands and goes against orders out of a sense of loyalty to this man and appeals to the loyalty of his friend to let them go.

It works, but Vito may have learned the wrong lesson. He now sees that the system isn’t working the way he thought it was, but he still doesn’t realize that he can’t succeed in it and it is actively trying to push back against him.

The Negative Character Arc Of Vito Scaletta Part 3: Act 2

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