Character Study

The characters in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay are the backbone of the plot, as they are developed and interesting. First and foremost are the title characters, Josef (Joe) Kavalier, and Sammy Klayman (Sam Clay). They collaborated to create The Escapist, their successful comic superhero. Both characters are introduced, but in completely different manners. Sam is described and dissected in the second paragraph of the first chapter, setting him up as a somewhat shallow character, establishing that while he was interesting, he would not be the focus of the novel. Personality-wise, Sam is shown to be a typical city boy with small origins and big visions. He is given a dialect that utilizes, but doesn't overuse, his Brooklyn origins. His sentences are riddled with typical city slang, which makes his interactions with his foreign cousin, Joe, mildly humorous.

The author soon dedicates about fifty pages to giving a back story to Josef Kavalier. The setting jumps to the past, where Joe is living a comfortable life with his busy parents, who tend to neglect him in favor of their jobs. From an early age, Joe is shown to have a fascination with Houdini, and the concept of escape artists. He eventually obtains an apprenticeship under Bernard Kornblum, and old, but experienced and accomplished escape artist. The author spends quite a bit of time discussing Joe's gradual improvements in picking locks, maneuvering his way out of ropes, and developing a natural feel for utilizing his tools. By the time World War II struck and the Germans were soon to occupy Czechoslovakia, Joe had become a skilled escape artist. His parents give up all that they own in order to safely send Joe to America, but he is denied passage. Unable to go back an face his family, Joe goes to Kornblum, and they devise a complicated plan that eventually lands him in Sam's house. Compared to Sam's one page back story, Joe's development could be it's own novel. Joe is a complex character, who doesn't say much of his intricate thoughts through his fractured English. Sam wants to write comic books simply to earn money, but Joe uses his illustrations to convey his anger at Nazi Germany, and he hopes to eventually earn enough money to see his family again. Sam's sole purpose as a character seems to be to make Joe's character stand out as complex by the contrast created by his own stark simplicity. Both characters are believable and act within their confines, but Joe seems to ultimately be the focus of the story.