September+26-+KAVALIER+AND+CLAY+PART+TWO+DISCUSSION+CONTINUED-+Nolan+Flaherty

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Today we continued our discussion of Part Two of Kavalier and Clay. We begin by talking about Jack Ashkenazy, who's last name is a type of Judaism. On page 89, Ashkenazy says "There's just one more thing. This is a comic book we're talking about, okay? Half bad is better than beauteeful." This is relating back to Chabon's idea that no matter which genre and type of literature it is: good literature is good literature, no matter which genre it is. The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is an example of well written literature. Chabon puts emphasis on the important moments of the novel through effective and well-devised writing.

An example of this is on page 113, as Sammy is watching Joe break into the Patroon studio, Chabon describes Sammy's reaction by saying, "As he watched Joe stand, blazing, on the fire escape, Sammy felt an ache in his chest that turned out to be, as so often occurs when memory and desire conjoin with a transient effect of weather, the pang of creation. The desire he felt, watching Joe, was unquestionably physical, but in the sense that Sammy wanted to inhabit the body of his cousin, not possess it, It was, in part, a longing- common enough among the inventors of heroes- to be someone else; to be more than the result of two hundred regimens and scenarios and self-improvement campaigns that always ran afoul of his perennial inability to locate an actual self to be improved. Joe Kavalier had an air of competence, of faith in his own abilities, that Sammy, but means of constant effort over the whole of his life, had finally learned how to only fake." There is a lot in this paragraph to take in, such as the theme of how the characters in the novel to find their true self. And the irony that, while Sammy seems on the outside that he is the confident, always-moving character, on the inside he has no idea who he is and who he wants to be.

Another example is the complex story within the story that Sammy and Joe are trying to create for the Escapist. On page 122, Sammy and Joe are trying to find out the "why" behind the Escapist; the reason their superhero does what he does. Chabon is asking this question to expand deeper into the story and create more of a subplot, because without this "why" the Escapist would seem very one-dimensional and not add more detail to The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay as a whole.

The scribe for next class is FREEDGOOD. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!