Joe's Internal Struggle: Past vs. Present

JOE'S CLASHING LIVES: PAST VS. PRESENT

    Ever since Joe made the journey across the Atlantic to take refuge in America, he has felt unrelenting guilt  living a comfortable, at times lavish, life in America while his family suffers through the Holocaust in Europe. While Joe's primary goal in entering the comic book business was to acquire enough money to free his family from the shackles of war-torn Europe, just as the Escapist would, he eventually realizes this task would be easier said than done, intensifying his guilt and frustration. To combat these emotions, Joe thrashes the Nazi regime in his comic books, fighting the "funny-book war." Joe knows there is little he can do to make a significant impact in the course of the war in Europe and genuinely help his family, so he fights with all he has through the heroes of his comic books, hoping to instill the unceasing anger he feels towards the Nazis in his readers. However, even this isn't enough to satisfy Joe. At one point, after failing yet again to secure visas for his family, he threatens to make the trip to Canada and enlist in the Royal Air Force, saying he was "tired of waiting" (187). Ultimately, Joe never reaches Canada, returning to New York, and continuing his comic book raid on Nazi Germany. Joe's anti-Nazi sentiment carries over outside the world of comic books as well, leading him to vandalize Carl Ebling's Aryan Amerian League office and confront Germans on the streets of New York. Joe couldn't be on the battlefields of Europe fighting to protect his family, but he could fight his own version of the war across the ocean in New York City. 

    However, this all seems to change for Joe once Rosa Saks enters his life. Joe's anger is balanced out by his love for Rosa, and his desire to live his life with her. Especially after negotiating a way to bring his brother Thomas to America, Joe begins to come to peace with his life in America, with Rosa by his side. Joe's past, and the guilt that goes along with it, is symbolized by the letter his mother sent him, which the reader gets to read, but Joe never does (talk about dramatic irony). In the letter, Joe's mother writes, "I want you to forget us, Josef, to leave us behind once and for all" (323). Joe ends up losing the letter while stopping Carl Ebling and his exploding trident, symbolizing his letting go of the constant agony of the memory of his family. While Joe refuses to open the letter, likely hoping to spare himself the pain and guilt he will feel reading about the perils of his family back in Europe, we still see his mindset begin to shift, as he agrees to his boss, Sheldon Anapol's request to refrain from attacking the Nazi regime in the film version of the Escapist. Joe has never before agreed to this type of request, as he previously stood his ground on the matter. However, Joe finally decides to do something for himself and his career, saying he needs to do "something that will be great, you know, instead of always trying to be Good" (367). Joe has spent the last few years of his life fighting a battle he was never going to win, and ultimately, with a little bit of letting go of his past, he realizes it is time for to invest in the life he is living and make the most of the opportunity he got was given his life in America.