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Kavalier And Clay

Decent Essays

There is a fundamental theme weaved throughout the novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, written by Micheal Chabon. This theme is the concept of escape. Many of the characters encounter internal struggles and face obstacles or must overcome difficult events in their lives. The story takes place during The Great Depression, a devstating worldwide economic depression in the 1930s and amidst the imminent doom of an impending war. One of the two main characters, Joe Kavalier, is a young Jewish boy from Prague. As a child, Joe is trained to be an escape artist. In his first attempt at showcasing his escapist talents, Joe Kavalier practices an underwater escape trick in a river near his home. After a few minutes underwater, Thomas tries to save Joe and is pulled into the river himself. After almost drowning Joe and Thomas are pulled to safety by his teacher, Kornblum. This is first time Joe’s escapes death. Joe again is forced to face escape when his family scrapes together money to send him to America. Their goal is to send Joe away from a world collapsing. In Europe, being Jewish is a death sentence. After a series of …show more content…

A sequence of events leads up to Joe becoming almost completely isolated from the outside world. During his time in the isolated continent, Joe becomes addicted to narcotics; he escapes his pain and anguish by succumbing to detached and paralyzed state of mind. Throughout his journey in this secluded continent, he is faced with his hatred of the Germans and his desire to enact vengeance upon them for all that he has lost. When he meets a German geologist exploring the frozen tundra, he inadvertently kills him. Joe experiences ironic feelings of remorse after so many years spent obsessing over the destruction of the Germans. There was no gratification or fulfillment, for Joe, in the German man’s death. Joe felt repulsed and an abhorrence in himself for his

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