Bellodi e il «Mi ci romperò la testa». Difesa dello stato e scontro tra arbitrio e diritto ne ‘Il giorno della civetta’

Abstract

The paper prefigures a reading of The day of the owl, starting from a focus study on the main character: captain Bellodi. According to Sciascia, the genre of the thriller is just a literary pretext and, with the description of Bellodi’s investigations, the author wishes to underline the dualism between arbitrariness and law in Sicilian society. The captain represents the voice of the nation in the Sicilian and Italian context, characterized by profound silence towards the mafia, and he stands in defense of that same nation that he contributed to create with the resistance to Nazi-fascism. The Bellodi’s virtues are not linked to the storytelling. In a literary confrontation with Manzoni’s Renzo, it is evident that fictio finds full adherence to reality through the reference to Renato Candida, commander of the Carabinieri of Agrigento who, in the 50s, among the first exponents of the Arma, placed himself at the center of the fight against the mafia. Bellodi’s winning resolution in the clash between arbitrariness and law emerges in the final pages of the text. After the interrogation with Mariano Arena, Bellodi decides to take refuge in his safe place: Parma. Right on the verge of surrender, however, the captain refuses defeat against the mafia: “I’ll break my head” he declares, anticipating the return to Sicily for a path of irreversible resistance. After showing the existence of the mafia with clear precision, Sciascia thus launches a desperate but harsh message of hope.