Family Dynamics: The Clay Household

 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, leading him to abandon his love with Tracy Bacon. Ultimately, Chabon is attempting to retract the curtain of the American suburban nuclear family, exposing the abnormalities and uniqueness that exist within what may seem like a relatively ordinary family.

However, once Joe returns to the lives of Sammy, Rosa, and Tommy, everything changes. The act put on by Sammy and Rosa to maintain a socially acceptable family image begins to fall apart, as Joe and Rosa's love picks up where it left off and Tommy learns that Joe is his biological father. Sammy becomes the odd one out, with no real role in his home in Bloomtown besides as a friend to Joe and Rosa and a father figure to Tommy. Assisted by his public outing in the trial, Sammy finally feels able to free himself from his self-imposed, and society-imposed, shackles, deciding to move to Los Angeles to explore a life of homosexuality and possibly reunite with Tracy Bacon. Sammy tried for so long to defend his social reputation by filling Joe's shoes as Tommy's father and Rosa's wife, but once Joe came back to reclaim his role in the family and his social reputation was already tarnished with the trial, Sammy was freed to pursue his ideal life without guilt or fear.