Post 8 - Thesis Proposal

For my American Author, I chose Michael Chabon and read two of his books, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and Wonder Boys. I am still in the process of finishing the second book, but I’m sure I will have it read by next week.

In Kavalier & Clay the theme throughout the novel is comic books and superheroes. Chabon gives several main characters in the book alter-egos in the form of comic book superheroes. As the story progresses, whatever a character experiences, his or her superhero-ego reflects their feelings. A characters’ secret obsession for spying and hiding could be identified in his superhero-ego. Near the end of the book, one of the main character's super-egos is destroyed, so he is forced to come to terms with himself. This does not happen with other characters, but other superhero-egos are identified.

In Wonder Boys, however, there are no comic books or superheroes in the story. One similarity I notice between the two books is that the main characters of each are either authors or artists. I have noticed some passages in the book where the main character and narrator reflects on himself, and how he is unsure of his life and purpose.

Based on this, I was thinking that for my thesis I would focus on character identity, and how characters pour their dreams, fears, and feelings into fictional characters they create. I have found a lot of evidence for this thesis, but my main concern is how to word it properly. I want to say it in a way that will pave the way for the evidence I’ve collected. Also, I am not clear on how to answer the question “So what?” in my paper. I am not sure of what bigger picture character identity could be pointing to. To be quite honest, I have no idea how comic books relate to society or the world in general. One possibility, and this is completely hypothetical, it’s about coming to terms with yourself that’s truly important. That could be a subject that everyone can relate to and understand. As soon as I finish Wonder Boys I’m sure I’ll have enough evidence and ideas to connect the two books and their similar themes.

When writing my paper, I want to have a strong structure to make my argument all the better. I plan to introduce my thesis in the second or third paragraph. After I want to look at character’s identities and how the evolve. I want to try and look at why Chabon does this, and what benefit is has to each individual character and the story as a whole. Apart from discussing my thesis and how it connects to both books, I would also like to look at Chabon’s writing style. I want to see if characters in both books experience similar things that shape their personalities.

Post 7

As I climb deeper into my second book, Wonder Boys, I notice similar patterns in Chabon's style of characters. In Kavalier & Clay, Chabon uses the theme of comic books to help certain characters escape from reality into a different world. When the their comic-ego is no longer present, the character is forced to come to terms with themselves. In Wonder Boys, Chabon presents themes of identity, including a drag-queen as a main character, to suggest a similar theme. I will see if this theme of identity is present in both books as I continue to read. One scene in particular stuck out to me in terms of changing your identity. It's from when the drag queen, Miss Sloviak, is changing her appearance back into a man:

"With a succession of cotton balls she wiped the makeup from her face and stripped her nails of their pale pink armor. She reached up into her dress for the waistband of her panty hose and dragged them down along her smooth legs to her feet. The she extracted a pair of pressed Levi's for the suitcase, unfolded them, and, with some difficulty, slid them up under the skirt of her black dress, which she then tugged up over her head and off. Her brassiere was black Lycra, padded, with a pearled ribbon at the junction of the cups and a near pair of small protuberances meant to simulate erect female nipples; the chest beneath it was small but muscular, and free from hair. She put on a striped pull-over, white socks emblazoned with a polo pony, and a pair of white Stan Smiths." (pg. 91)

Since my last post, I have gotten a clearer picture of the narrator, a man named Grady Tripp. He is a struggling Jewish writer, living in Pittsburgh, PA. He is best friends with his bizarre editor Terry Crabtree. Also, he is having an affair with one of his colleague's wifes, who is now pregnant with his child.