Matt Simmons
Ms. Clemons CP Eng. III
1-7-14
The Great Escape
Micheal Chabon's 2001, Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is truly an all american book. The novel is about a jewish immigrant by the name of Josef Kavalier, who comes to America from Prague to escape the Nazis in 1939. He teams up with his cousin Sammy Clay to start making comic books. The book goes into great detail of the lives and adventures of the two boys from 1935 to 1954. One of many themes about this book is the idea of escape. Escaping from things is something that is seen very often throughout the story. This theme is portrayed through the jewish symbol of the golem, the comic books that the boys write, and the actions that Joe makes.
A reoccurring symbol throughout the novel is the jewish golem. A golem is an artificial creature created by magic to serve its creator. It is often made out of soil or clay and needs special words spoken to it to bring it to life. The most famous stories of the golem are when the golem is created to protect jews from harm. The golem in Kavalier and Clay symbolizes the idea of escape and creation. In the novel, Josef Kavalier is having a hard time getting to America because his visa papers are not being handled correctly. Joe's magic teacher, Bernard Kornblum, devises a plan to get Joe to America that includes the Golem. The two men get the coffin of the golem and ship it to Lithuania. Josef would be in the casket with only, “an empty Mosel bottle, into which he was [supposed to], at rare intervals. . . sparingly, relieve his bladder” (Chabon 64). For 44 hours, Joe was cramped into this coffin before he, “staggered, dazed, blinking, limping, bent, asphyxiated, and smelling of stale urine,...
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...en] he clambered over the back of his seat [to confront the men]” (Chabon 196). Although Joe often got beat up when he would pick these fights, it was just a way to let his feelings escape and help him think he was really fighting the Nazis. Joe Kavalier was The Escapist.
Escaping from things is either good or bad. It either means you were brave enough to try or to cowardly to stay. The art of escape is one of many themes in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Using things such as the golem, comic books, and his character, Joe Kavalier, Micheal Chabon delivers this idea on a silver platter for the reader. Everyone wants to try and get away from the world and have an escape to make things right. Whether it be writing, drawing, exercising, or whatever lets you clear your head. It is important to just get away sometimes and make reality disappear for a while.
Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in...
Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, documents the author's discovery of her own and her father's homosexuality. The book touches upon many themes, including, but not limited to, the following: sexual orientation, family relationships, and suicide. Unlike most autobiographical works, Bechdel uses the comics graphic medium to tell her story. By close-reading or carefully analyzing pages fourteen through seventeen in Fun Home one can get a better understanding of how a Bechdel employs words and graphic devices to render specific events. One can also see how the specific content of the pages thematically connects to the book as a whole. As we will see, this portion of the book echoes the strained relationship between Bruce Bechdel and his family and his attempts to disguise his homosexuality by creating the image of an ideal family, themes which are prevalent throughout the rest of the nook.
People do not have to fly to be hero, it takes much more. Many heroes of today are shown to have supernatural powers that makes them acquire amazing abilities, flying, super strength, skills to manifest anything, the list goes on. Our heroes in the present time are perceived by the audiences' mindset to have special powers but there are times where being a hero does not need to have all the extra tricks. Thomas, a character in The Maze Runner is thrown unconsciously with no memory into a place of the unknown called the Glades, consisting of only teenagers inhabiting the area. He would soon find out the whole place is bordered by a big wall that closes by night and day to protect them from the maze that are filled with demonic machines that will kill on sight. This begins his adventure, eager to learn what is out there and willing to become a maze runner which is equivalent to being a tribute for the greater good in their little homemade society. Having powers might help to become a hero, but in the dystopian novel The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, his protagonist Thomas demonstrates the hero journey in a more natural way by crossing the threshold, meeting a mentor, and lastly having tests, allies and enemies.
To escape the reality of this undeniably complicated world, would be something so distant to even consider, yet it would not be impossible to. The film “Where the Wild Things Are” unconsciously portrays an attempt at this escape through the leading role, Max and his fellow Wild Things. Max’s Journey could be considered a quest for sanity and morality in the sense that his everyday life initiated him to escape this reality and experience a much preferable life in which would be considered his safe space, where he was unknowingly faced with his own deepest aspects of himself through the personalities and conflicts of others leading him to further learn his place in the world.
Interpretating and understanding these characters and objects as symbols, bring a whole new light to the novel. As you read this, or any other story, let it get inside your head a little and try to find out if there's a Devil, one devoted to decay, destruction and demoralization.
It is used to represent many subjects such as destruction, life, and warmth. It’s amazing how it can be changed from something so violent to something filled with hope. However, in order to learn something like this, to gain a larger meaning from a tiny context, you must first learn - just as Montag did. He went through trial and error, happiness and pain, and so much more before he even began to receive a grasp on the larger picture. May we all be able to possess a larger meaning through learning. Montag accepted it the difficult way, and you have all the resources at your fingertips. Go out there and
The Development of Escape Margaret Laurence's novel A Bird in the House is a collection of independent and intertwined short stories written from Vanessa MacLeod's point of view. As an adult looking back on her childhood, the protagonist examines how she, and essentially everyone in her life, experiences a sense of entrapment and a need to escape. Because the author begins and concludes the novel with the Brick House, the major theme of escape is shown to have developed in Vanessa as she matures through childhood and adolescence and becomes an adult. Firstly, Margaret Laurence emphasizes that freedom and escape are always within reach, even if one does not notice or believe it. For the majority of the novel, Vanessa's greatest want is to escape the confines of Manawaka (her hometown), the Brick House, and Grandfather Connor.
The symbols of the scarecrows and birds of fine song and feather, the knitting, and the Gorgon’s head help with the theme because they demonstrate how man can be cruel and unfeeling toward his fellow citizen. The symbols help in understanding the theme that both the aristocrats and the peasants are capable of being apathetic and cruel. The symbols also aid in reading and understanding the plot. Both the symbols and the theme enhance the plot and help in comprehending the characters. In short, evil is present everywhere, and terrible things happen to bad and good people.
The book, Hamakua Hero by Patsy Iwasaki, and Berido is a book based on true stories, and depicts a man named Katsu Goto, a Japanese man who wanted to explore the world in the 1800’s. The base of the story is Katsu and his pursuit of the American Dream, and the Dream is exemplified in this through the sacrifices, and struggles Katsu goes through, and the outcome of his predicaments.
Imagination is one of the most powerful attributes a character can possess, and one of the most undervalued. In this day and age, materials seem to be desired by the majority of the people in our generation, whether it’d be elaborate clothing, advanced gadgets, or luxurious cars. We value the accessories that allow us to feel extravagant, rather than appreciating the remarkable abilities gifted to us by human nature. Because of this, the potency of imagination is neglected. However, what happens when we take those material goods away? What happens when we are left with nothing, only ourselves and our minds? This isolation from the material world gives us a chance to explore the possibilities that we disregard while we are blinded by it. With
Why does one escape reality and what consequences do his or her actions hold? Evading real life can be a way to cope with the harshness of the world or can be an innocent activity for fun. Sometimes being excessively imaginative will force someone to be naturally less confrontational with his or her real problems. Therefore causing him or her to go through the motions every day, without specific goals or hopes of improving his or her life. Escaping reality can be harmless temporarily but can show negative effects when repeated.
To conclude, the graphic novel Watchmen presents the non-fantastic representation of a superhero, implying that not all heroes are like Superman. This notion is explored within the novel by mentioning the realistic motives of the characters choosing to become superheroes, by Rorschach’s representation and through the heroic reactions of the New Yorkers to a street crime. These elements all contribute to Watchmen’s uniqueness and complexity as a superhero comic.
Isolation is defined as the state of being in a place or position that is separated from people, place or things. Many people identify with a desire to be isolated, despite science saying that people’s natural instinct is to gravitate toward others. Studies have shown that isolation is not good psychologically. Isolation can be voluntary or involuntary; however, whether it is with a human or an animal species, physical touch, communication, and emotional connection is necessary to survive in everyday life. In a number of literary works, isolation is seen as a theme among characters who are sick, mentally ill and those who are incarcerated to name a few. In the literary works we have read in this unit, the isolation of the protagonist, whether voluntary or
Michael Charbon’s character Sammy Clay worked closely with his cousin Josef Kavalier who escaped from Prague during World War II to live a rewarding life in America. During World War
The symbolized words or phrases have one literal meaning and another profound meaning that readers must figure out for themselves depending on the context. In this story, Steiner once describes a "suitcase, torn at the hinges and lashed with string." Then he further explains about the character by mentioning how "His right leg was dead to the hip." These details are accurate and conceivable, however in the meantime, they mirror Folk's miserable self and distressed mind. The pitcher or milk is also an image or symbol that can be seen in the story. Falk while talking to Mr. Terrenoire says: "It was a blue pitcher and the milk was warm." The color blue as we know usually represents the sky and the ocean, this further makes it represent profundity, strength, and depth. It likewise speaks to reliability, trust, confidence and reality. Thinking more about it warm milk is the first kind of food any human gets. Generally speaking, this pitcher symbolizes Falk's blue and warm love. After burying it, Falk guarantees himself that he is going to come back to find it at the same condition in which he has left it, unbroken, just like his unbroken love. One of the events in the story include a Jewish boy who replies when asked his age: "I am fifteen add a thousand." Realistically speaking the boy was just a day over fifteen. However, that day was equivalent to a thousand