As may be seen in a brief examination of several characters and scenes in Mario Puzo's "The Godfather," analysis of ethnic literature must focus on both the cultural and the linguistic aspects of literature. Often the syntactic structure reflects the structure of the native language of the writer, while word choice frequently depends upon a word-for-word translation of an idiom or even of a single word from that language. Furthermore, the characters' reactions, customs, and attitudes, as well as their moral and ethical viewpoints, are derived from this ethnic background. Thus, to fully understand and appreciate an ethnic work, the literary analyst must be familiar with the work's ethnic background and should then investigate its faithfulness to its cultural matrix. (JM)