Tommasi di Lampedusa shares the story of Don Fabrizio and Prince of Salina, by conveying his life through significant historical events. Throughout, "The Leopard," there are underlying themes of death, decay, politics, and love. These themes are presented through the life of the protagonist and his family. Demonstrating his views and perceptions of Sicily, the reader learns about Don Fabrizio’s character and the way in which he chose to deal with issues such as Garibaldi’s landing, and the slow decline of his family’s status. It can be said that death is a common thought in the protagonist, Don Fabrizio. In Chapter 1, the reader learns of his fascination with death, often fantasising and appearing to ‘court death’ through his periods of solitude and silence, with the novel concluding with his own death.1 During the novel, death begins to appear in different aspects of the protagonist’s life. Death considerably appears to surface in the old Sicily through the discussion of a new Sicily and the future generation. Don Fabrizio explains that the current Sicily is ‘worn out and exhausted’ therefore his generation must stand aside to ‘watch the capers and somersaults of the young around his ornate catafalque’, signifying the inevitable change for Sicily.2 Using the word, "catafalque," meaning the, "wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral," reiterates his inevitable death as it can said that the old Sicily will ‘die’ alongside him.3 His negative tone continues further on in the novel to Tancredi and Angelica when they are set to marry. In the chapter ‘A Ball’, they are dancing together which Don Fabrizio describes as ‘the mutual clasp of those bodies destined to die’.4 He chooses to foreshadow their inevitable death rather than highlighting that although they will eventually die, they will be united in death. In addition, he begins to reference the eventual decline of his own family when talking to Tancredi alone as he says ‘lets hope the summer is over and that the rains are finally here’.5 Using pathetic fallacy, this could be interpreted as the summer being life and the rain equalling death, suggesting he wants to die, or it could be seen as a forward reference with the summer representing the peak of his life in terms of his social and political status, with the rain reflecting his family’s inevitable decline in status. This ‘black cloud’ of death constantly looms over the protagonist and his life as he constantly thinks of the inevitable end rather than celebrating the new beginnings. This offers the interpretation that Lampedusa wanted this character to represent a ‘black cloud’ of negativity in order to foreshadow the inevitability of war, failure and decay which was apparent through Sicily and Italy for a long period of time. Symbolism of death is equally provided throughout the novel. A notable example appears in the title of the original version of the novel, ‘Gattopardo’, which is a type of Leopard that is now extinct. One could interpret from this information that Lampedusa wanted this animal to represent Don Fabrizio and his family in order represent the family’s status and rank that no longer exists, thus being ‘extinct’ like the ‘Gattopardo’. This is a symbolic metaphor foreshadowed throughout the novel, specially when Don Fabrizio states ‘We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who’ll take our place will be the little jackals, hyenas’.6 This offers the interpretation that Don Fabrizio views himself, his friends and his family to metaphorically be the ‘Kings of the Animal Kingdom’