Alex Character in Everything is Illuminated - Research Paper Example

? Alex on Everything is Illuminated Outline Paragraph Introduction Paragraph 2: The Significance of Alex’s Character Paragraph 3: From Alex’s Americanized Self to Real Identity Paragraph 4: From Limitation of Understanding to Awareness of History Paragraph 5: From Alex’s Dream of Going to America to Just Stay to Fulfill His Responsibilities Paragraph 6: Development of His Character Paragraph 7: Conclusion Alex in “Everything is Illuminated” is a character who has ended a childish dream to the coming of the rite passage of becoming one responsible adult. Alex’s character has illustrated how illumination of one’s past can alter a man’s perception of responsibilities as the coming of adulthood. Just like how his character has developed in the story, this paper shows that the development of his character in the story is gradual and comes along with his experience of illumination from the past, which is towards his change to maturity. The reason why I’ve chosen Alex’s character is because of the important role he has played in the novel though the story has revolved around Jonathan’s search for his grandfather’s life. Alex Perchov, a young man in his 20’s, has served as Jonathan’s tour guide all throughout his quest for Augustine, a woman may or may have not possibly saved the life of Jonathan’s grandfather. His importance in the story is because according to Rodriguez, Foer has used the dual structure in order to highlight the contrasting point of views of Jonathan and Alex (57). For me, it is important to note the context where they have come from like that Alex is from Ukraine which makes him have a different perspective with that of Jonathan from America. They are two different people with two distinct beliefs. As Rodriguez has added, Alex holds to an idea of time which is not the same as Jonathan’s (58). Thus, this enables the readers to grasp an understanding about Alex in a light different than Jonathan. Readers can gauge insightful thoughts from Alex that is not provided by Jonathan due to the differences of their context. With his dream of going to America, Alex has created his “Americanized” self-image but the illumination has made him forget about that image for his real identity. He has his self-created “Americanized” image such as his imagination of his girls, of his promiscuity, and other lies because these make Alex feel as if he is a premium person (Foer 114). Indeed, he sees the American culture as something cool, well, premium in his words. Also, he brags everything he knows. He talks more about himself than what Jonathan expects from him through their exchange of letters. He talks more and more about American pop culture. It can be observed that at first, Alex is always boasting about himself even if those he is telling are already bunches of lies. But as their search for Augustine goes, the history has slowly unfolded itself. His honest side shows off for the reason that he somehow understands the deeper meaning of his identity. Gradually, his identity is revealing itself to him because of his family’s history way back the World War II. This gradual revelation of his identity slowly illuminates him and slowly makes him a responsible man. Alex’s way to maturity is also marked by his development from limitation of understanding to awareness of history. Alex is more than a tour guide himself because he has also attended as a translator and a writer in his amusingly incorrect way of communicating in English. He is seen to be limited in his manner of speaking in English. When Jonathan corrects him, he does not get what the American writer is trying to imply. As for Rodriguez, he is illustrated by Foer as one man who is trapped in language who cannot execute an accurate manner of communicating in English (61). The way Alex thinks is also limited for the reason that he does not reflect something deeper unlike Jonathan does. But as the story progresses, the developments in Alex’s character is because Jonathan’s search for his grandfather’s past has later made him also engaged in the exploration of history. This is because it also unfolds something to him about his past. He has only limited knowledge of his own history because Alex’s grandfather has not disclosed his experience under the Nazis during the World War II due to the torment it gives him. Throughout the story, Alex has also been searching for his identity (Rodriguez 56) because he has realized that his grandfather is Eli, who also suffered under the Nazis during the war. Alex has known that his grandfather killed Herschel, his best friend, because it he did not do it, it was his grandmother and father who could get killed. That is why grandfather has mistreated his father because of the past which he now gets to finally realize. From the limited capacity for understanding, Alex has turned out to be aware of his history and his heritage as well (Hunter 44). Alex is able to understand his grandfather. He also has felt the pain his grandfather feels. In a likewise matter, he has found himself in the past. Alex has understood himself from the past. It is what Foer called ‘illumination’ because for Alex, things have gotten clearer (243). The memory of the past has enlightened Alex. Furthermore, Alex’s dream of going to America has disappeared after his realization that he should stay in his home to fulfill his responsibilities. His life in Odessa, a port city on a Black Sea of Ukraine, is something he has desired to leave because of his abusive father. Alex has started to save up for his dream to move in America with his younger brother, Little Igor, to America. For Alex, America is the place where he and his younger brother can have the happy life which is far from the reality of their abusive father (Petrie 105). However, because of his grandfather’s history which is also his family’s past, he is able to alter his views in life because the awareness he has received from history that has made him change his mind. It is the case that their journey as they revisit the past makes him witness how his grandfather is suffering from pain of remembering the incident in the World War II. All the memories that his grandfather tries to forget have relived. Then there he has realized that it is also a search for his identity for he only knows little about it. From the re-visitation of the past, Alex’s cultural identity is revealed. It is a cultural identity that represents the collective image of the past (Hunter 38). This collective image of the past has made him change his views towards the world. His understanding of how tough his grandfather is has caused an impact to him to alter his views of the world. His journey from the illumination of the past towards self-discovery makes Alex illuminated. According to Foer, Alex acknowledges that he has learned a lot from Jonathan’s writing and criticisms (178-179). What is important at the end of the day is to be yourself, just like how Alex says it. Despite whatever characteristics you have, at the end of the day, you should be yourself. His exploration to the past has made him realize where he should be, how his grandfather is before. Alex has explored a journey to his own self-discovery (Hunter 44). Alex has developed his character from the beginning until the end of the story. From someone who brags about everything about himself and lies about different promiscuity, Alex has transformed to someone honest at the later part of the story. From someone who has very limited capacity for understanding (Rodriguez 57) and is wrapped by ignorance (Hunter 4), Alex has changed to someone who is engaged to a journey for knowledge (Hunter 44). From someone who has dreams of escaping with his younger brother from his father to move to America, Alex has is altered to someone who is with enough maturity and ready to face his responsibilities to take the place of his father and grandfather. “Everything is Illuminated” is a tale of ending a childish dream to the coming of the rite passage of becoming one responsible adult. Because the history is revealed and is illuminated to Alex, he has realized that America is not the place where he should be. If before he saves all his money just to buy plane tickets for him and Little Igor for them to escape their father, if before he considers America as the place where he and his younger brother can live perfectly happy, that childish dream has just come to an end because of the re-visitation of the past. Alex has just witnessed how his grandfather cries because of the damaging memories of war. At first, his identity as a Jewish is not something he really considers. Alex sees that identity without that much importance. However, the total development of his character in the story is when he has realized through the collective image of his past that his dream of living in America has just stopped as he says it is a dream he has waken up from (241). From that dream, Alex realizes his responsibility to his mother and Little Igor which his father fails to address (Foer 159-160). Because of the death of his grandfather, a new generation must take control through Alex. The disclosure of history has made Alex to be illuminated in his maturity. Alex has achieved this illumination, the clarity, purpose and drive, to do something for his future through making good of his past. Since everything is illuminated, his childish dream has just ended and is altered to a sense of being a responsible adult. This is how Alex’s character has developed throughout the story. It is indeed a good transformation for his change is for the better. Works Cited: Foer, J. Everything is Illuminated. Harper Perennial, 2003. Print. Hunter, A. “The Amnesiac Consciousness of the Contemporary Holocaust Novel: Lily Brett’s Too Many Men and Jonathan Safran Foer?s Everything Is Illuminated.” Configurations of Cultural Amnesia. Eds. Apostolos Lampropoulos and Vassiliki Markidou. Synthesis 2 (Fall 2010): 38-47. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. Miller, L. “Everything is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer. Horizon High School Drama. Horizon Highschool Drame, 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. Petrie, W. “For Illumination and Escape: Writing and Regeneration in 21st Century Jewish-American Literature.” Literatura 49(5) 2007: 103-107. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. Rodriguez, F. “Ethics in the Second Degree.” Journal of Modern Literature 32(1) 2008: 54-68. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. Read More