Campion AP Lit

 After finishing Kavalier and Clay, here's my six-word summary of the book as a whole: Joe and Sammy escape their troubles. And if I had ten words: Joe and Sammy escape their troubles and follow their hearts. The biggest theme of this novel is escape, and throughout the novel, Joe and Sammy find themselves constantly escaping their realities, often refusing to face the truth. The novel starts with Joe's escape from Prague, traveling through Europe with the Golem to flee from the Nazi regime. Later on in the novel, after hearing about the death of his brother Thomas at the hands of the Germans, Joe tries to escape his anger and guilt by enlisting in the military, ultimately leading him to the most desolate, isolating place possible - Antartica. Ultimately, once Joe returns to New York, Joe has to escape his fear and hesitation to return home to Sammy, Rosa, and his son Tommy, escaping the immense solitude of his Empire State Building apartment.  For Sammy, his journey of escape

 It is safe to say the Clay family that lives in Bloomtown, NY is not your average nuclear family, with not your average family dynamics. The only son of the family, Tommy, is unaware of the identity of his true father,  while still addressing Sammy Clay as "Dad" despite the knowledge that he is not his biological father. Not to mention the fact that Sammy and Rosa, a seeminly normal couple, are not in love with one another, with Sammy attempting to hide his homosexuality and Rosa still in love with Joe, or at least what memories still remain of him in her mind. Both Rosa and Sammy are attempting to escape from their true desires under the veil of suburban America, trying to blend in with their upper middle-class neighbors and conform to American social standards. As a middle-aged woman during the mid-20th century, Rosa feels as though she is expected to fulfill the role of the household mother and Sammy feels as though he must conform to the social norm of heterosexuality, l