In The Godfather, loyalty to the family is the ultimate value, to be upheld above all else. As Michael says, “Blood was blood and nothing else was its equal” (124). But the definition of family may differ from how it is generally understood. In The Godfather, there are two families in each man’s life: his personal family and the Corleone family. When forced to choose between the two, these men all know that their first loyalty must be to the Corleone family.

Tom illustrates this point early in the book. Tom has been held hostage by Sollozzo, and the Don has been shot. When Tom returns to the Corleone home, his wife is waiting for him. She is overcome with relief upon seeing him, but their interaction is brief. After hugging her, Tom “disentangled himself from his wife’s arms and lowered her back onto the sofa…He strode into the office without another look at his still-sobbing wife” (120). Tom understands that, as consigliere, his first duty is to address the problems of the Corleone family, and his own family will have to wait. Michael observes this scene, and his reaction is to feel pride, thinking, “[Tom] hadn’t lived with the Corleone Family ten years for nothing… Some of the old man had rubbed off on him, as it had on Sonny, and he thought, with surprise, even on himself” (120).