Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
question
What's up with the Marx character?
Koos
Apr 21, 2024 02:37AM
To me, Sadie, Sam and, to some extend, Dov, were interesting, layered characters. Despite Marx becoming one of the main characters, I never could empathize with him though, as his sole purpose seemed to be to propel Sadie and Sam further without having the story to deal with real-live work issues like finances and operations. He just provided the resources and work that otherwise would have landed with Sadie and Sam, making the story unlikely, as they'd have to deal with that stuff on top of everything else. Marx just appears and solves all those things without any obvious motivation. Then at some point the author almost makes this explicit, with Sam calling Marx a non-playing character. Finally, I think it was in the coma chapter, Marx himself wonders: what made him do the things he did? Was it for lack of anything better? Was it because he never took the initiative?
Because especially the first one third of the book was so well written, but throughout the whole story there are such wonderful flashbacks and foreshadowing and interplay of themes, I wonder: was Marx intentionally such a flat character? But why? And if Marx didn't matter, why did he get the most violent, most detailed and stretched-out death of all them all? Marx's death too had a purpose in the story of Sam and Sadie, but so had Dong Hyun's and that didn't need an office being attacked with fire arms.
Because especially the first one third of the book was so well written, but throughout the whole story there are such wonderful flashbacks and foreshadowing and interplay of themes, I wonder: was Marx intentionally such a flat character? But why? And if Marx didn't matter, why did he get the most violent, most detailed and stretched-out death of all them all? Marx's death too had a purpose in the story of Sam and Sadie, but so had Dong Hyun's and that didn't need an office being attacked with fire arms.
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I am not very good at getting my thoughts in order, but here goes! Marx was easily my favorite character. Yes, he was an NPC to the two main characters, Sam and Sadie, but I don't think he was flat because of that or even in spite of that. He's a theater kid who loves loving things and seeing the serendipity in life. He is a mixed race upper-class kid who experienced the unfortunate reality of the barriers of race, but not the barriers of class. He is a mediator. He is a creative, but not in the way that Sam and Sadie are.
My dad is a historian. While he was getting his master's degree, he wrote many papers. Loooong papers. He is a writer, a creator. Every paper he wrote, he would give to my mom to proof read, offering questions to push his writing further, insight into some of the points he made, and feedback to take to the next project. My mom is a reader. She is also a devout optimist and ray of sunshine, so it was very easy to see her in Marx as I read.
Marx is a reader, not a writer. The world needs readers. Sam and Sadie need a reader throughout the book to do exactly what my mom did for my dad in college.
I SOBBED when Marx died. The entire coma portion, the second-person storytelling. WEPT. I completely understand your perspective, and I'm hoping I was concise enough for you to understand mine. I think it boils down to personal experience in which characters hit you the hardest.
My dad is a historian. While he was getting his master's degree, he wrote many papers. Loooong papers. He is a writer, a creator. Every paper he wrote, he would give to my mom to proof read, offering questions to push his writing further, insight into some of the points he made, and feedback to take to the next project. My mom is a reader. She is also a devout optimist and ray of sunshine, so it was very easy to see her in Marx as I read.
Marx is a reader, not a writer. The world needs readers. Sam and Sadie need a reader throughout the book to do exactly what my mom did for my dad in college.
I SOBBED when Marx died. The entire coma portion, the second-person storytelling. WEPT. I completely understand your perspective, and I'm hoping I was concise enough for you to understand mine. I think it boils down to personal experience in which characters hit you the hardest.
Marx is the binding force between Sam and Sadie. After Marx's death, Sam and Sadie separated and couldn't work together. Marx loved Sadie and sam equally, and so did sam and Sadie. But the reason for killing him is very odd. Still, I don't know why Sam and Sadie go to a promotion without Marx. You need people like Marx to build the empire. He might not be an expert in the field but he could be a force of livelihood of many families.
I so agree. He was literally just used to make sure Sadie and Sams relationship didn't fall apart and I think that was potentially a writer error as I feel like there could've been more room for character development on both sides but Marx's' character blocked that in a way if that makes sense?
I agree with most of your comment. Personally, I didn't feel that any of the characters were particularly dynamic or developed thoroughly. However, I do totally agree that Marx was by far the flattest, yet still seemed to get a violent, tragic death that is supposed to sting because we're meant to care about him. But, aside from the tragic nature of his death, I didn't feel much emotion towards him as a character. I felt way more emotion when Dong Hyun died because his role was clear and he felt more fleshed out to me.
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