110 pages 3 hours read

Michael Chabon

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

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Character Analysis

Josef (Joe) Kavalier

Most of the novel’s action centers around Joe. Joe is an immigrant, born and raised in Prague, then sent by his family to stay with his aunt and cousin in the United States around the time Nazi Germany annexed Czechoslovakia in 1938. Joe is an intelligent and talented youth. He learns the art of escape from an old magician, Bernard Kornblum, and those skills and experiences play a great role throughout Joe's life. Later on, in the US, Joe and his cousin Sam become successful producers of comic books during the war years.

Joe is overwhelmed by a sense of duty and guilt, having been granted freedom from the Nazis while his family must remain behind. Guilt and frustration boil over with the death of Joe's brother, Thomas, and Joe leaves his entire life behind to join the navy and kill Germans. However, Joe is stationed far away from the action, and when finally he is able to exact his revenge, it is against a German researcher, not a soldier, in Antarctica. Joe causes the man's death, and the guilt of taking a life compounds the guilt and pain he feels at losing his family. Joe undergoes years of separation and isolation from his loved ones, namely Sam and Rosa, but also from his son, Tommy.