Two main characters have been introduced so far. The seemingly most important so far is Joe Kavalier, a young, Jewish man from Prague with unique talents. Joe lives with his brother Thomas as well as his mother and father. He is extremely fascinated by the art of escapism and magic tricks. He is mentored by a fellow magician named Bernard Kornblum who trains him in the practice of escapism. Joe has an extreme passion for this art and practices it almost every day. Another unique talent of Joe is his ability to draw. Joe is very confident in his skills and enjoys putting them to use. Raised in Hitler era Prague, Joe's family decided to send him to America in the hopes that he would remain safe and be able to help them come to America some day. This plan, however fails, as Joe attempts to take a train to leave the country and when doing so, he is kicked off due to lack of papers. Unable to face his family after he fails to make it to Europe, he turns to Bernard Kornblum for help. Bernard Kornblum comes up with a plan in which he devises to intertwine Joe into his secret life. He had been hired by the secret circle of important Jewish leaders in Prague to sneak the sacred Golem of Prague out in order to keep it safe. He devises a plan to get both Joe and the Golem out of  Prague through sneaking them in a crate together. This plan works and once Joe is in America he goes to his cousin Sam's house. The journey to America has taken its toll on Joe, as he looks tired and weary. As he sees Sam and Sam's mother for the first time they talk behind his back. "What the matter with him?" Sam said. "Is he Sick?" "He can barely stand on his own two feet."

As the story progresses and the escapist grows into an extremely profitable comic book it becomes a huge part of Joe and Sam's lives and keeps them busy. It serves as a way for Joe and Sam to bond together. It also serves as Joe's hopes to bring his family to America in order to keep them safe. For Sam, it gives him some self worth and he feels a lot more confident than he had before. The escapist itself also serves as an allegory as it portrays the escapists and its other hero's fighting the "iron chain" which Sam and Joe elude are the Nazis of Germany. The book grows in success and they create new characters and sidekicks. Joe and Sam create one of the best selling and well known comic books n America. As the story continues Joe attempts to get his family to America however fails in his attempts to do so. As this happens he gets extremely angry and develops a hateful passion towards Germans. He picks fights with almost any German he sees. He also begins to drink a little bit; this starts to worry Sam. Later, Joe meets a girl named Rosa Saks who he takes interest in. She seems take the stress out of Joe's life and he no longer picks fights and drinks. She also works for an organization that helps bring children from Nazi Europe to America. Joe decides to use this connection to help bring his brother Thomas to America. He is put on the waiting list, and he is in Joes mind all the time.

Sam is the next major character in this book. Sam, a young Jewish man raised in Brooklyn, is sort of sad and lonely before Joe comes along. He lacks self confidence and his hope is waning as he works at a novelty item shop in which he sees little future in. One of Sam's passions is comic books. He eats sleeps and breaths comic books, hoping one day to become a big shot comic book salesmen. He also enjoys drawing his own comic books. Although he lacks talent in drawing them, he has a knack for creating interesting storylines. Once Joe arrives, they seem to get along and grow closer together as friends. The next morning, once Sam wakes up, he notices Joe is trying to copy his drawings of comic books and is doing a very good job of it. Joe is very talented and this surprises Sam, giving him a crazy idea of starting up a comic book company. He tells Joe of his plans and they go pitch their idea to Sam's boss, Anapol. Anapol is intrigued by the idea, however he is skeptical it will sell. He tells Joe and Sam to work on a full comic book over the weekend and if they do a good job, he will give them a chance. Joe and Sam then work tirelessly on the project, getting help from other fellow comic book enthusiasts. They spend 3 straight days working on the comic book, and The Escapist is Born.

As the story continues Joe reaches a building with the sign "Aryan American League". He finds disgust in this and decides to envision himself tearing it up. He leaves the building, however he passes it every day and eventually bursts. He runs into the building and finds it was just as he had thought.  The room was plagued with Nazi items and plans and this made Joe furious. He tore up everything until he reaches one drawer. and finds an Escapist Comic with all sorts of notes and scribbles. These notes were extremely descriptive. and he wrote "they were identified as threats to the reputations, dignity, and ambitions of German nationalism in America. The writer of these notes, as found in the notes, was Carl Ebling. As Ebling continued writing the notes his "tone of dismissive scorn and outrage moderated and vanished altogether. The entries grew longer and more detailed, breaking down at times into panel-by-panel recitations of the action in the books. The final summary, of the devoid of judgmental as to be completely neutral. Carl Ebling, was in spite of himself, a fan" I found it amazing how even an anti-semetic Nazi who understood the allegorical content of the comic grew to love it and enjoy reading it. Joe and Sam had made their comic so compelling, detailed, and interesting that he could barely even put it down. While Joe continues reading the notes, Carl Ebling himself, comes through the door. Both Joe and Carl are enraged at one another. Joe and Ebling begin to fight and Ebling is knocked out cold while Joe leaves with some bruises. As Joe leaves however he leaves a note saying. "To my pal Carl Ebling, Lots of luck-The Escapist." I find this interesting as I believe that their is somewhat of a connection to Joe and The Escapist. The Escapist's goal is to help people who can't help themselves while Joe does the same thing, trying to help his family get to safety.

As I read the book I find it very interesting how Michael Chabon writes it. Throughout the novel he stages the characters situations and events in separate chapters. In doing this Chabon builds up to a climax in one chapter yet fails to reveal the climax or he does not reveal the details or cause of what was read. After doing so he goes on to another section and reveals what had happened through another set of events. While reading it I get all curious as to what will happen next and feel more compelled to read the next chapter in order to see what happened. For example, in one scene, Joe had barely escaped carbon monoxide poisoning which had wiped out almost all of his troops, Chabon doesn't reveal the force of destruction, leaving you clueless until the next chapter. "The air seemed unnaturally stuffy and far too warm, and as he stood there, listening for the usual congested snuffling of the men, his dizziness increased. The weight of the dog in his arms grew intolerable. Oyster fell from his arms and hit the plank floor with a thud. The sound made Joe gag. He stumbled to his left, wildly veering to avoid touching any of the bunks he walked between or the men lying in them, toward the light switch. No one protested or rolled away from the blaze of light. Houl was dead; Mitchell was dead; Gedman was dead, That was as far as Joe got in his investigations before a sudden
desperate understanding drove him to the ladder that led up through the hatch in the roof of the Waldorf and out onto the ice. Coatless bareheaded, feet clad only in socks, he stumbled topside across the jagged skin of the snow. The cold jerked at his chest like a wire snare. It fell on him like a safe. It lapped eagerly at his unprotected feet and licked at his kneecaps. He took great breaths of that clean and wicked coldness, thanking it with every cell in his body. He heard his exhalations rustle like taffeta as they froze solid in the air around him.  His bloomed filled with oxygen, quickening the nerves of his eyes, and the dark dull sky over his head seemed to thicken suddenly with stars. He reached an instant of bodily equipoise, during which the rapture of his survival to breathe and be burned by the wind perfectly balanced the agony of his exposure to it Then the shivering took hold, in a single crippling shudder that racked his whole body, and he cried out, and fell to his knees on the ice" In the next chapter he reveals the cause of the terror. "The radio is out? Johnny, why is the radio out?" In his panic, the melodramatic notion worthy of one of Sam's plot, that Johnny was a German spy and had killed them all streaked through his thoughts, "What is going on?" "Relax, Dopey, all right? Please do not lose your shit." "Johnny." Joe said, as calmly as he could, letting out smoke, "I feel that I am going to lose my shit." "Look here, the fellows are dead and the radio is out, but there is no connection between the two. One has nothing to do with the other, like everything else in life. It was not some Nazi superweapon. Jesus Christ, It was the fucking stove." "The stove?" "It was carbon monoxide."

      At this point in the book all of the major characters have been introduced. The first is Joe Kavalier. The young Jewish boy from Prague made his way to America in a elaborate scheme to protect the Jews sacred golem. He has come a long way and made a name for himself. At first he starts of as a confused immigrant and grows into a true American. As he writes his comics he mentally fights the Nazis and attempts to save his family. He feels like his comics have huge effects on others and does not write them simply for the money. He feels very good about himself and has allowed himself to fall in love; something he swore he wouldn't do until his family came to America. This all comes crashing down, however, when he receives the news of his brothers death. He runs off to fight the war and learns a lot about of himself through this.  Once he finally kills a German Chabon writes "Nothing had ever happened to him, not the shooting of Oyster, or the piteous muttering expiration of John Wesley Shannenhouse, or the death of his father, or internment of his mother and grandfather, not even the drowning if his beloved brother, had ever broken his heart quite as terribly as the realization, when he was halfway to the rimed zinc hatch of the German station, that he was hauling a corpse behind him." As the story continues Joe's character takes another turn. As Rosa marries Sam Joe becomes confused and is unsure how to return to them. He realizes he must return however he feels like he might intrude.
     Another interesting character is Sam. His character also changes throughout the story. At first he is this miserable young man who lacks self confidence ad self purpose. He is very pessimistic and is lonely. This all changes once Joe shows up. This brings purpose to Sam's life and starts his dream career. He grows more self confidence and becomes happy with his career. As his career shoots off he grows close to Joe and is upset when Joe spends less time with him. Joe starts to spend more time with Rosa and Sam feels like he is back to his lonely self. This also changes once Sam meets a man named Tracy Bacon. Sam and Tracy become very good friends, however Sam still maintains his inferiority complex. Over time Tracy and Sam fall in love and seem to be happy. Once people find out that Sam is a fairy he leaves Tracy, leaving himself back to feeling like a fairy. Once Joe leaves for the war, Sam and Rosa are left together, confused, and afraid. This relationship leads to love and they end up getting married. While it might seem like Sam is happy with this he truthfully is not. He still loves Sam, however he does not want to be punished for his love. Sam desperately wants Joe to return even though he has married Rosa.
     The final major character is Rosa. Rosa is an devoted artist who feels like childish until she meets Joe. Once she meets Joe she transforms into a woman and falls in love with Joe, changing her life. She supports Joe in his career and often inspires his drawings and creations for his comic books. She also provides hope for him and saving his family. It's also interesting to note that She was the first girl Joe let into his life once he left Prague. He said he would not rest and enjoy himself until he saved his family. This all changed once Joe left for the war. Joe blamed Rosa for his brother Thomas' death and couldn't bear to stay in America. This hurt Rosa terribly making her feel awful and depressed. Once Joe leaves she becomes lost and confused. Sam is there to comfort her and they decide to marry.

This first image is that of a golem. It is meant to symbolize the actual sacred golem Joe helped to confiscate out of Prague as well as the burden he held. This golem was a symbol of hope to the Jewish people of Prague and was one of their most beloved possessions. This golem symbolizes not only the tremendous amount of responsibility Joe held in keeping safe a sacred artifact of his Jewish people it also represents the responsibility Joe felt he had to get his family safe and bring them to America. Joe felt that his family had given all they had to get him to America and he felt he needed to act as the golem and provide a way to give his family the hope of being safe and join him in America.

 

This image is that of The Escapist comic book. It serves as hope to Joe, Sam, and those trying fight against Nazi Europe. The hero The Escapist had the goal of protecting the innocent and those who could not help themselves. It served as an allegory towards fighting against Nazi Europe and protecting its victims. For Sam this gave him self confidence and he felt he had a purpose in life. For Joe this gave him hope towards being able to buy his way to save his family as well as being able to take care of them once they got there. This also gave Joe a great feeling in that he truly felt like he was fighting against Nazi Europe through writing his comics.

This image is that of a sinking ship right off the shore of a city. This serves to represent the sunken ship that Thomas was on when he was coming to America. While the ship that Joe's brother was in was not right next to the shore it represents how Joe felt in that he felt he was so close to having Thomas next to him and being safe. The sinking of the ship represents the breaking of Joe's hope in having his family come to America. He feels as if he has nothing to live for and leaves to fight against the Nazi's.

This image is that of a simple house. This represents Rosa and Sam's house and marriage which Joe felt unsure how to return to. After the war Joe realized that it had been so long before he had seen Sam and Rosa. He felt uncomfortable about returning and did not want to ruin their relationship. While it represents his uncertainty it also represents his hopes. It represents his hopes through his dream of marrying Rosa and moving in with her, which he was about to do before Thomas' death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=p39D9IkTXQg

This video encompasses what the book is all about.

One of the most recurrent and most important themes presented throughout the book is that of hope. It lies in The Escapist, The golem, Joe's hope for his family, Sam's hope for a career, and much more. This universal hope is what brings humans together such as Rosa and Sam, when they hoped for Joes return. This also intertwines into the themes of American literature and that of America. America is known as the city paved in gold. It is thought to be a place where dreams come true, no matter who you are or how you get there. America provides hope for many people and creates an environment in which they can achieve success. This is key to the book and is present in almost every single chapter. Everyone hopes for something and this book displays that extremely well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone I know. I started reading it thinking it would be a book about two young boys selling comic books and it became much more. The book turned into a wild story of hopes and dreams chased by those who wanted them the most. The book takes you on a wild ride of emotions and makes you feel for those involved. By the end of the story, not everything ends perfectly however it is a fitting ending that makes you appreciate it even more.