Tobias Jones's The Dark Heart Of Italy

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Tobias Jones regales his readers about his Italian adventures and revelations in his novel, The Dark Heart of Italy. Jones was born in England and immigrated to Italy in 1999, and like most, he had many judgements of the country, which influenced how he viewed the Italian people. He initially came to the country to write about the Italian’s national identity, its politics and corruption, but in the end found what is most important to Italians. Through immense immersion into the Italian life and culture, Tobias Jones realizes how wrong he was about Italians and falls in love with who they truly are.

The first chapter of The Dark Heart of Italy, “Parole, Parole, Parole,” is focused on the misconceptions and judgements that Tobias Jones makes about the meaning of Italian words, and therefore Italians. Italian is a difficult language, and nearly impossible to fully comprehend. Jones’ first mistake is when he makes the assumption about the word …show more content…

Jones makes the connection, or lack there of, between the Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi, and the term bella persona. Berlusconi is a person of power, owns most television stations, and has money. Doesn’t that qualify a person to be a bella persona? He once believed that Italians were obsessed with beauty, but not once did they ever refer to Berlusconi as bella. In the chapter “Forzismo,” Jones discovers the true definition. “A bella persona isn’t only a good-looker (literally a ‘beautiful person’) but also a ‘good person,’ someone who has an attractive personality… Bellissimo is used not just for appearances but also for il gesto, ‘the gesture.’ Someone doesn’t do a ‘good’ deed; he does a ‘beautiful’ one” (Jones 278). Like most things in life, it is the little things in life that matter. The little acts of kindness, il gesto, that Italians show each other, makes them

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