Realism and Non-realism: Real Good

Descriptive Comments from ‘The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay’ page 464

 

1. The first thing one notices is the reversal of tone regarding Joe Kavalier.  Joe is not written as the hero, but the hooded monster.  He is not “Joe,” he is “the American.”
2. The narrator detaches himself from the characters, and no longer carries the voice of a historical biographer.  It is neutral tone relating a surreal moment in the story in which Joe becomes the sole occupant of an entire featureless continent.
3. The page, really the entire scene, reads in slow, silent motion, and the only reference to sound is Joe’s (interpreted from “flawless German”) statement, and the C-sharp ringing in the German’s ears as the audience must assume he is either shot or bluntly struck with the pistol.
4. There are no references to factual records concerning the portrayed event, and the reader must assume a certain level of distrust of the narrator, specifically the description of the German’s dying thoughts.
5. Also concerning the German’s thoughts, the reader cannot assume his interpretation of the American’s motives are factual.
6. The reader associates and empathizes with the German, who represents the hero’s hated enemy, and consequently all of humanity.
7. The sole purpose of Joe’s departure from society was to exact retribution on Germans (he hoped to kill them), and this scene, the only German that Joe kills, is not told from his perspective.
8. The author’s choice to represent this scene not as a “historical event” (with references to historical documents observed elsewhere in the novel, giving it a “mockumentary” feeling) but as a stylized depiction of otherwise unknowable details, suggests that the scene serves a more artistic purpose, subjective to closer reading and interpretation.
9. The German’s reflections appeal to emotions that are common in all people, regardless of nationality or faction.  They are those of regret, desire for peaceful resolution when possible, the contemplation of what could have been, embarrassment, and loneliness.
10. In the final paragraph of the page, Joe’s name is used and he is re-humanized.  This is after the fatal blow to the German was enacted.  Likewise, the tone changes back to a more biographical narrator.
11. The pace also returns to normal speed, briefly expressing the “half hour” it took Joe to drag the body, when the above paragraph had focused on each depleting millisecond of the German’s last thoughts.
12. Though regret on Joe’s part is eventually expressed on the following page, his immediate reaction to killing the German is determination to save the man.  This is juxtaposed to the German’s initial reaction upon firing (that of regret and embarrassment), and speaks volumes of Joe’s emotional processes.
13. Also concerning Joe’s initial reaction is the observation that first the narrator describes his process of rationalization in his determination to save the man’s life.  Joe first recognizes a list of supplies necessary, then proceeds to drag the body to the most likely location from which he might procure these necessities.
14. Joe is not concerned with his own wound, but with that of the German
15. The reader cannot determine from the context whether Joe is dragging a German barely clinging to life or a corpse.  We do know Joe wants to believe the German is still alive.
16. This scene marks the end of Joe’s attempt at becoming a “real superhero” instead of fighting the Nazis with fictional heroes.  Coincidentally it marks his accomplishment of doing so, but the result is not as we the reader, or Joe himself, had hoped. 

 

The Essay

 

On page 464 of “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” the narration shifts from a historical biographical voice, recounting events as if they had actually happened, to an omniscient narrator capable of recounting events that would otherwise be unknowable to a historian.  The narration shifts from the perspective of the protagonists to that of a seemingly insignificant, otherwise non-existent character, the German Mecklenburg.  There are also a number of stylistic changes concerning pace and description, which cause a slow-motion effect and exhibit elements of surrealism, further deviating from novel’s prior structure.  References to sound are limited, an element which adds to the surrealism of the scene, as those which are described mark crucial moments in Joe Kavalier’s mission of vengeance and isolation.  The murder of Mecklenburg on page 464 illuminates Joe’s longing for utter isolation from humanity by meticulously describing the moment in which he achieves this goal, as we, “humanity”, are thrust into the consciousness of his enemy, thereby experiencing his departure.

            The shift in perspective that takes place in this passage causes a complete reversal in the reader’s opinion of Joe.  The narrator’s reference to Joe as “the American” (464), as he is viewed by Mecklenburg, serves to disassociate the reader from Joe and dehumanize him.  Mecklenburg’s perspective portrays Joe as a nameless threat, and the disconnection is amplified by the inaccurate description of Joe as American, the effect of which forces the reader to re-evaluate his/her notion of Joe; he becomes inhuman.  Thus, the reader is at once aligned with the enemy German, and experiences first-hand Joe’s true end:  To remove himself completely from all of us (humanity) in order to satisfy his self-destructive urge brought on by his paramount loss. 

            As we are thrust into Mecklenburg’s perspective, the tone of the narration slows down considerably in order to demonstrate the momentous nature of his murder.  Though the event transpired in mere seconds, each vital second is represented by the thoughts racing through the doomed German’s mind.  The deceleration of time allows the narrator to further the reader’s empathizing with the German, and a myriad of human emotions are showcased.  Emotions such as fear, panic, relief, regret, admiration, and loneliness tick one-by-one through the reader’s mind, revealing the true nature of what Joe intends.  As these emotions are experienced in a surreal slow motion, the reader feels that s/he is the one being killed.  Time crawls on and the reader is offered hope of salvation with thoughts of cooperation and understanding, which are “the only hope for survival” (464).  The effect is punctuated, “A chime tuned to C-sharp sound[s]…”(464) and Joe kills the German, the reader, and all humanity with an abrupt beginning to a new paragraph. 

This punctuation is even more effective due to the account of sound experienced by the reader throughout the passage.  It commences with Joe speaking words that match the cold cruelty of the faceless Antarctic: “I am very glad to be here…  The flight was difficult” (464).  The implications of this simple statement echo through the reader’s mind, as it is the only sound s/he experiences until the fatal C-sharp of death.  The statement slowly drifts from consciousness as the reader’s focus is directed towards his/her emotions, causing the scene to grow temporarily silent. 

Upon reflection, the reader will find that Joe is not only referring to the literal flight en route to Jotunheim, but to his flight from humanity as well.  He is “glad to be here,” not at the German base, or even Antarctica, but what Antarctica represents:  complete isolation.  Upon killing the German, which one would normally attribute to his prima facie goal of simply killing Nazis, Joe becomes, to the reader, a nameless villain and the sole occupant of a featureless, murderous continent.  

Perhaps more haunting is the nature of the final sound.  It is not an explosion of gunfire, rapt with drama and fanfare, but the cheery “ding” of a chime, comparable to that of an elevator upon reaching its destination and opening its doors.  It is the sound of Joe achieving his goal.  The author’s choice of a “ding” rather than a “bang” or any other violent onomatopoeiatic sound, customary of the comic book genre, is not the intuitive sound one associates with murder.  This is because murder was not Joe’s ultimate objective, but was instead the quiet calm of solitude found in a wind chime, an interpretation not hindered by the fact that a “ding” is also the accepted sound of achievement.

The comic book genre is likewise mirrored in the death of Mecklenburg, and thus that of humanity, in the wordless spit-bubble that protrudes from Mecklenburg’s mouth and the implied thought-bubble, “What a hypocrite I have been!” (464).  Though the narrator has access to all of Mecklenburg’s thoughts, it does not reveal as to whether he was trying to speak to Joe or not, leaving the reader to wonder.  In any event, the wordless spit-bubble is the silence forced upon humanity by Joe’s actions, thereby rendering us speechless, left to our own hypocrisies.  Though immediately following his achievement, Joe becomes “friendless and sad” (464), which may be problematic to my argument.

As the exact nature of Mecklenburg’s death is unclear, there may be reason to believe that the gun discharged accidentally as a result of his self-described misinterpretation of the American’s motives.  If this is the case, then it may suggest that Joe had experienced a change of heart concerning his mission (German-killing or self-isolation), and was in fact appealing to the friendly cooperation which is key to survival.  In response to this one must look at the subsequent paragraph, and the following account of Joe’s actions.

At this point, the narration returns to its regular pace and tone, suggesting the return of Joe’s humanity.  The narrator describes in one sentence the passing of the half hour Joe spends dragging the body of Mecklenburg across the ice, and does not reveal as to whether he is dead or alive, which suggests Joe failed to check this status.  Likewise, Joe’s initial reaction is mechanical in his assessment of the proper steps needed to save the man’s life.  It is not until later that Joe’s emotions resurface, signifying a gradual, awkward return to humanity.  This account disregards the exact nature of Mecklenburg’s death, as it served both to satisfy Joe in his isolationist fall, literally to the bottom of the earth, and in doing so return him to humanity with his demons conquered; prepared to finally face the future and let go of the past.

Throughout the passage on page 464, the brilliant manipulation of pace, tone, emotion, and contrasting perspective effectively illustrate the true nature of Joe’s internal struggle since the loss of his family:  that of isolation.  In losing his family he experienced the effects of survivor’s guilt, which pushed him on a quest to reconcile his survival by in effect losing himself.  The reader watches as s/he is expelled from Joe’s identity and forced to experience the timeless moment when Joe cuts himself off from humanity and finally tastes the isolation of death, the penance for his survival.

 

 

           

            

~ by ninjamaticexpress on August 6, 2008.