The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

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Part 3, Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “The Funny-Book War”

Part 3, Chapter 1 Summary

It’s six o’clock on a Monday morning in October 1940. Joe is feverishly working on the next issue of the Escapist. Over the course of the last week, the Escapist, and therefore Joe, has flown all over Europe, battling the nefarious Steel Gauntlet, the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, and even Adolf Hitler himself. In the end, the Escapist subdues them all. Hitler is condemned to death for his crimes, and the peoples of Europe (and, implicitly, the Kavalier family of Prague) are set free.

Joe doesn’t feel at home in New York City because he won’t let himself feel that way. He has already saved up $7,000 toward getting his family out of Europe. Over the radio, Joe learns that the Vichy government in France has enacted a set of laws similar to the Nuremberg laws (the laws that essentially illegalized Jews in Germany). The positive feelings of victory that he feels after finishing his drawings are fleeting. Joe knows that it’s all imaginary. He feels shame and frustration.

Anapol enters the studio wearing a new suit. His face is sunburned. Anapol and Joe have a short conversation about the new issue Joe has been working on. The previous January, the first issue of Amazing Radio Midget Comics debuted and sold out its print-run of 300,000 copies. Because of the success of the comics and their expansion into three other titles, Anapol sold off the novelty portion of his business. Now the business is simply Empire Comics, Inc. Anapol has just returned from Florida—his first vacation in 14 years. Anapol is nervous about the fact that the comics are now blatantly using the words “Germany” and “Nazis,” whereas previously they had been using pseudonyms, such as Zothenia, Gothsylvania, and Draconia. The Nazis were called “Razi.”

The newer issues also tell more about the League of the Golden Key and how it elected Tom Mayflower to be its emergency champion. The power of Tom’s key increased to the point that the Escapist received superhuman strength. He could peel the skin from an airplane, tie artillery guns into knots, and stop artillery shells.

All of this was cathartic for Joe, and Sam feared that if Joe didn’t have enough work to do, then Joe “might be overcome by the imprisoning futility of his rage” (170). Fortunately, the figures for the first circulation of Radio Comics #2 came in at around half a million, and Joe soon found himself responsible for nearly 200 pages of art every month.

Anapol worries that the violence in the comic books is becoming more blatant, although these battle scenes help make the comics so successful. Anapol warns Joe that someday he is going to go too far and someone is going to get hurt, and Joe replies that people are already getting hurt. Anapol responds, “Well, not around here” (172). Joe feels, however, that if he can’t move Americans to want to do something about the Nazis, then the freedom he has been given is meaningless. Anapol comments he can’t believe they will be moving into the Empire State Building, remarking about the coincidence of the names Empire Comics and Empire State. Anapol asks Joe what he has heard from his family. Joe tells him that the news is “the usual” and that nothing has changed. When Joe receives mail from his mother, the letters are highly censored. When Joe writes back, addressing his brother Thomas, his hand trembles so badly that he has to type all his letters. He tells Thomas that he has not forgotten him, and not to despair. Anapol reiterates that he will continue to allow Joe to destroy the forces of Germany so long as it sells comic books, though it all makes him very nervous.

The two go back to talking about Anapol’s Florida vacation. It happens that Anapol has purchased some property there. He feels that Joe is questioning his right to buy something so expensive with his money from the comic book. Joe denies this, but the narrator points out that “the only people winning the war that Joe had been fighting in the pages of Empire Comics since January were Sheldon Anapol and Jack Ashkenazy” (175). The two of them have pocketed, according to Sam’s calculations, around $600,000.

Part 3, Chapter 2 Summary

Joe is reluctantly going to the German Consulate for an appointment with the Adjutant for Minority Relocation. Joe has thrown himself into comic books with the same fervor he gave to learning about magic and radios. He allows himself to go to movies from time to time, always with the excuse of research: “Joe learned to view the comic book hero, in his form-fitting costume, not as a pulp absurdity but as the celebration of the lyricism of the naked (albeit tinted) human form in motion” (176).

On the subway, Joe can’t concentrate on the comic book he brought. He thinks about the indecency of Anapol’s wealth and the dread of his appointment. Joe doesn’t necessarily resent the prosperity that Anapol has, but rather the disproportionate amount; after all, he and Sammy are doing all the work.

Joe has made many discouraging visits to the consulate looking for news on getting his family over to the US. The Adjutant is friendly and civil, but Joe feels that the man secretly enjoys dashing his hopes and wasting his time. The secretary, Joe feels, is downright antisemitic. Obtaining a US visa has become next to impossible. Joe’s sense of entrapment has carried over into the Escapist. The restraints have become more elaborate, even ridiculous. The news from France continues to plague his thoughts, especially the phrase “superintend its population of Jews” (179). Things have been getting worse for his family, and the voice inside Joe’s head that tells him he cannot save his family grows louder.

On a ferry boat between New Jersey and Manhattan, Joe espies the spires of Ellis Island. In Hoboken, at the Eighth street pier, Joe comes across the Rotterdam, a ship out of Holland, and watches as several families reunite. He sees two Czech brothers embrace. At one point he sees a man he mistakes for his father, and for a fleeting moment, Joe has the hope of seeing his father again. Joe doesn’t let this get him down. He buys some bananas, which he loves, and remains hopeful that he will eventually get everything taken care of and get his family to New York.

When Joe gets to the consulate for his ten o’clock appointment, he has to wait for the adjutant, Herr Milde, to come back from a going-away breakfast, as Milde is being transferred. In the office, Herr Milde asks Joe what he can do for him. Joe is confused as he tells Herr Milde that he is the one who called him. Herr Milde acts forgetful. Joe tells him that his secretary called and told Joe that there was a problem with some paperwork. Herr Milde pulls out Joe’s file and looks through it. A small, yellow slip of paper falls from the pages. Herr Milde nonchalantly informs Joe of his father’s death, telling him that he has died of pneumonia.

Joe wanders around in a state of shock. It takes him a while to realize where he is going. He eventually steps into a saloon and calls the office. Sammy answers. Joe tells Sam about his father’s death and that he is going to Canada. He hangs up before Sam can protest. Joe asks the bartender how to get to Montreal. The bartender wants to know why he’s going there, and Joe says he wants to enlist in the military there.

Part 3, Chapter 3 Summary

Joe doesn’t go back home to pack a bag. He figures the military will provide him with everything he needs. While on the train, Joe’s spirits begin to waiver. He tries to comfort himself with battle scenes reminiscent of the ones he draws, but in the end, nothing can remove the fact from his mind that he is fatherless. By the time the train reaches Albany, Joe has convinced himself that his mother and brother are still alive and that they still need saving. He decides to go back to New York, but “all his doubts are counterbalanced by a powerful urge to kill German soldiers” (190).

Before Joe gets back to New York City, he changes his mind seven times. Once in the city, however, he goes straight to a bar on Fifth Avenue, orders a drink, and then calls Sam. It takes Sam half an hour to get there and by the time he arrives, Joe is drunk. Sam and Joe have a quick conversation wherein Joe lets out his feelings of uselessness. Sam and Joe walk to the subway station nearby. Joe sees a man whom he feels looks quintessentially German. Joe spits in the man’s direction and the spittle lands on the man’s shoes. Sam apologizes, but the man, who does speak with a heavy German accent, states that Joe needs to personally apologize. Sam thinks he recognizes the man as Max Schmeling, a German boxer and former heavyweight champion, and tells Joe as much. Joe doesn’t care and tells the German to “go to hell” (192). The man puts Joe in a headlock and punches him hard in the stomach. Joe collapses. The German addresses the crowd that has gathered. Everyone agrees that they saw Joe antagonize the man. The German then walks away. Sam helps Joe to his feet.

When Sam and Joe get back to the apartment, Sam, at Joe’s behest, says nothing about Joe’s father. Sam does, however, tell everyone about Joe’s encounter with Max Schmeling. Joe surprises himself by saying that if he ever sees that man again, he’s going to hit back.

The narrator informs the reader that the man was most likely not Max Schmeling, because Max was more than likely in Poland at the time, having been drafted into the Wehrmacht as punishment for having lost to Joe Louis in 1938.

Part 3, Chapter 4 Summary

New York City has only a couple thousand Germans, but Joe seems to come across one every time he ventures out. At one point, Joe addressed a German man in German and relished the fact that he made the man feel nervous.

A week after Joe discovers that his father has died, Sam takes him to a Brooklyn Dodgers game in the hopes of distracting him. Sam is a big fan. While in the stands, Joe realizes two things: He is drunk, and there are two men behind him speaking German. At the end of the third quarter, Joe is sure he just heard the two men mutter something antisemitic. Joe clambers over the seats toward the two men and yanks one of them by his shirt, popping buttons off. The two men fight back and Joe winds up on the ground. By the time others in the crowd pull the two Germans off of Joe, Joe’s right eye is closed and swollen, his ribs are bruised, he has a chipped tooth, and his suit is ruined. An usher escorts Sam and Joe from the stadium. Sam wants to know if Joe is “crazy.”

Joe feels edified by his wounds. He doesn’t feel he deserves the pain, but he finds that it suits him. Sam takes Joe to his mother’s for dinner, and when Joe bends down to pick up his napkin from the floor, the cut on his cheek reopens. Ethel gives him sutures using thread that’s the same color as the Escapist’s uniform.

Joe begins looking for trouble. Every day, he goes into Yorkville, where there is a large population of Germans. Mostly he just walks around, but sometimes he gets into fights. One afternoon, some boys harass Joe. They don’t like the way he’s skulking around. All the boys are huge fans of the Escapist, but they don’t know who Joe is, and they shoot him in the back of the head with a spitball.

The narrator points out that many of the Germans living in New York City were vehemently against Hitler and the Nazis, and that they even mounted protests and condemned American inaction in the war in Europe. However, there were also those Germans who supported the Nazis.

One day, Joe notices a sign in the window of a second-floor office that reads Aryan-American League. Joe fantasizes about storming the offices and getting into a fight with a bunch of brown-shirted men. Joe watches the window for half an hour but doesn’t see anyone enter or leave the building. Eventually, he decides to go home, but then he heads back to Yorkville. Joe enters a shop across the street from the Aryan-American League and stakes it out. He recognizes the type of lock on the building’s door and thinks that he could easily pick it if he had his picks. Joe finds a new children’s bike chained to a window grate and breaks off one of the spokes. He returns to the building and picks the lock.

Inside, the office is drab and poorly furnished—nothing like what Joe had imagined. He finds a note on the lone desk written in a sort of code. Joe proceeds to ransack the office. He notices someone in the office has typed up a science fiction manuscript. Joe then finds a copy of Radio Comics #1. There is also a photo of a French actor, Franchot Tone, who closely resembles Max Mayflower. Joe doesn’t recognize the actor but wonders if he had seen him around and subconsciously based Max on Franchot’s face.

In another drawer, Joe finds a diary that contains the theory that Franchot Tone is really a secret assassin working for a group whose goal is to eliminate Adolf Hitler. Joe tears the diary in half. He begins emptying the contents of a file cabinet and comes across more of his own comics, along with 25 sheets of notes. Joe peruses their contents. Carl Ebling, the owner of the former diary and the sole member of the Aryan-American League, identifies Sam and Joe as threats to the reputation, dignity, and ambitions of German nationalism. Joe reads further and discovers that Carl is a fan of Joe’s and Sam’s comics. For the first time, Joe becomes aware that adults might actually read comics. Joe is impressed by Carl’s analysis of his work but quickly remembers that the man is a Nazi. Joe then begins to feel ashamed and regretful that he creates something that appeals to such a man. Joe is not the only person to reflect fascism in his anti-fascist superman, “but Joe was perhaps the first to feel the shame of glorifying, in the name of democracy and freedom, the vengeful brutality of a very strong man” (204).

While Joe is distracted, Carl returns to the office. When Carl enters and asks him who he is, Joe attempts to just slink past. Carl hits Joe on the back of the head with a blackjack. Joe grabs Carl and throws him against the bookshelf. Carl’s head hits the shelf and he’s knocked unconscious. Joe, for a wild moment, hopes that he’s killed Carl, but as he stands over him Joe notices he is still breathing. Joe goes back to the desk and scrawls out a memo to Carl: “To my pal, Carl Ebling […] Lots of luck, the Escapist” (205).

Part 3, Chapters 1-4 Analysis

Joe Kavalier’s emotional state is prominent in these first four chapters of Part 3. Joe is full of guilt for being in America, living a comfortable and successful life as a comic book artist, with good friends, while back home in Prague his family is suffering. As a result, Joe devotes himself to his work. His entire raison d’être is to work and save money to get his family out of Europe. No matter how hard he works, however, Joe feels powerless and useless. He is impatient to get his family over to the United States, and he is met solely with bureaucratic obfuscation at the hands of the German consulate. Joe takes his anger and frustration out in the pages of the Escapist’s tales, where the drawing of the destruction of the Nazi forces and Hitler’s defeat is cathartic—further evidence of The Healing Power of Art.

After Joe learns of his father’s death, he makes the rational decision to remain in New York and earn money, working toward getting his mother and brother out. Joe then crosses a line and begins to actively seek confrontation with random German people he meets in New York. Joe usually loses the physical fights he instigates, but this does not matter; Joe does not need to beat a German in a fight; the very fact that he is able to physically confront his “enemies” (most of whom are just imagined) provides him with a sense of accomplishment. The fact that he wears his wounds as a sign of pride, that he finds the injuries “suit[] him,” suggests an interest in self-harm and speaks to Joe’s increasingly unhealthy mental state.

These chapters also introduce in greater detail the political and social divisions in America at the beginning of World War II. The narrator points out that not all Germans were Nazis and that many actively protested against Hitler and his regime. Furthermore, many Americans were reluctant to be “political.” This is best portrayed through Sheldon Anapol’s objections to the way the Nazis are portrayed in Sam and Joe’s comics: Concerned with profit above all, Anapol worries that these portrayals will alienate a portion of the comics’ potential audience.

In addition, the nature of comic book violence is addressed. Joe’s violent tendencies and fury at the Nazis are clear in the pages of his comics. However, as Joe’s rage and feelings of helplessness increase, his ability to make a distinction between German and Nazi erodes. It isn’t until he stumbles across Carl Ebling that Joe begins to see things a bit differently. Joe realizes that the violence appeals to a varied group of readers: to children who want to fight evil but also to adults, who enjoy the brutality and strength of the Escapist. This moment of recognition suggests another aspect of the tension between Society and the Individual Conscience. Joe creates The Escapist as catharsis for himself and for young readers facing an unjust world, but he cannot control who his audience is or what they take from his work.