During our last class discussion, we focused on the complexities of power in Italian Harlem – what is power, and who truly wields it? Throughout The Madonna of 115th Street, Robert Orsi continually suggests the domus, itself, was what retained power over the residents of Italian Harlem. Although I largely agree with his conclusion – it is true that most decisions made in both the public and private lives of those living in Italian Harlem centered around the strengthening of the domus – I feel Orsi overlooks the fact that the domus (and the power attributed to it) was inherently a creation of the Italians – an attempt to exert power in defining themselves in America.

What struck me from the latest reading, then, was the way in which the men and women of Italian Harlem relied on the Madonna to both maintain the power of the domus and escape from the limitations of the domus and immigrant life. During the festa, women found freedom in expressing their devotion to the Madonna and marching alongside the statue. As Orsi states, “Once a year… the power of women… was publicly proclaimed.” Yet, female restrictions were still present – men upheld their public facades as all-powerful by retaining authoritative roles in the event and at church. Thus, women identified with the Madonna, and turned to her for strength and consolation when faced with the “terrible fragility and power of their reputations as men defined them.”

Moreover, both men and women felt powerless against their dependence on labor. The festa served as a brief escape from the trials of immigrant life: it held no time limits and troubles were forgotten. In celebrating the Madonna, the men and women of Italian Harlem were also given opportunities for religious sacrifice – an integral part of Italian Catholicism. Although not apparent at first, this too, was an assertion of power. By choosing to suffer, the men and women of Italian Harlem convinced themselves that they had control over their lives, even when bound by social or economic constraints. Furthermore, ” by freely assuming suffering, as opposed to merely enduring pain… [they] were declaring something of their pride and sense of self-worth.” Here, however, Orsi notes the possibility of such religious sacrifice as masochistic self-suffering in response to repressed anger towards the limitations of the domus.

Though I am unsure if I agree with Orsi, I recognize the reasoning behind the Italians’ dependance on the Madonna. Devotion to the Madonna and religious sacrifice in her name served to give meaning to the suffering endured by the residents of Italian Harlem in their defined roles as men and women within the domus and roles as immigrants outside the domus. Although I understand that the men and women of Italian Harlem had little to no control over their financial obstacles, I believe they maintained power over the domus and therefore, had the ability to change their society – after all, it was they who had created the domus and bestowed upon it such power. Whether or not they truly wished to redefine the domus or recognized their ability to do so, however, remains another question. As Orsi notes in his example of a woman who lit a candle for the Madonna every week out of gratitude for her son’s newfound employment, her sacrifice “bound her tightly to the tradition which insisted that women must suffer on behalf of their families…” Ultimately, her actions “contributed to maintaining the culture that bore down on her,” and similarly, other men and women of Italian Harlem continued, through their choices, to recreate a society they both revered and despised.