Everything is Illuminated: Analysis of Major Characters
"Everything is Illuminated" is a novel rich in character exploration, weaving together narratives of personal and collective history through its diverse cast. Central to the story is Alex, a Ukrainian teenager who acts as an interpreter for Jonathan, a Jewish-American searching for his family's past. Alex's humorous use of language juxtaposes the profound themes of identity and trauma that permeate the text. His protective nature towards his younger brother, Little Igor, highlights familial bonds strained by domestic violence.
Jonathan's journey to Ukraine seeks closure for his family's historical wounds, while Grandfather, Alex's father, and other characters reflect the complexities of memory and guilt stemming from their experiences during World War II. The presence of characters like Lista, who recounts haunting tales of survival, and Augustine, an enigmatic figure from Jonathan’s family history, further enrich the narrative's exploration of love and loss. The interplay of these characters, along with their intertwined fates, invites readers to reflect on the impact of history on personal narratives and the enduring quest for understanding across generations.
Everything is Illuminated: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
First published: 2002
Genre: Novel
Locale: Poland, Ukraine
Plot: Historical fiction; magical realism
Time: 1791, 1941, 1997
Alexander Perchov (a.k.a. Sasha), a Ukrainian teenage boy. Not so tall, with blue eyes, Alex is the quintessential malaprop, with turns of phrase that are often hilarious, and occasionally, very profound. Hired by his father to act as an interpreter for a Jewish-American boy, Alex makes quick work of butchering the English language. Deeply caring, Alex is protective of his little brother who, like him, is beaten by his father. He and Jonathan embark on a joint venture to learn about the past, and maintain an abiding friendship through their letters and stories to each other.
Little Igor, a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy. Little Igor's father has dubbed him “the clumsy one” because he is always bruised and injured—supposedly from bumping into things and falling down—never mind the fact that his father beats him and his brother Alex, who is very protective of him, though ineffectively, until he meets “the hero,” Jonathan.
Grandfather (a.k.a. Eli), Alex's grandfather. A farmer turned mechanic, Grandfather is hired by his son to drive Jonathan to Trachimbrod, and to take Alex along as an interpreter. Grandfather insists on taking his dog to help with the driving, since Grandfather claims to be blind. According to his grandson, Alex, Grandfather confuses melancholy with blindness. He is often nonplussed by Jonathan's habits—for example, he cannot fathom why Jonathan does not eat meat. He has never heard of such a thing. Born in Odessa in 1918, he experienced, first-hand, the horrors of World War II. The journey brings him closer to a past he has tried to forget, connecting him with the young American Jew in ways neither could have anticipated.
Father, Alex's father. A stubborn, coarse bully, Alex's father is often physically violent with his two sons. He runs a travel agency called Heritage Touring, specifically designed to take Jews to, in Alex's words, “try to unearth the places where their families once existed.”
Jonathan Safran Foer, a young Jewish-American man searching for lost history. In an attempt to better understand his family history, Jonathan travels to Ukraine to learn the identity of the mysterious Augustine. Jonathan is patient with the Ukrainian driver and interpreter, though he really has no choice as that patience is tried to the breaking point. Jonathan is naive, but open, and this openness leads to a greater understanding of love, friendship, and sacrifice.
Augustine, a mysterious, young Ukrainian woman in 1940s-era photograph of Jonathan's grandfather. It is said that Augustine was responsible for saving Jonathan's grand-father's life. Jonathan's trip to Ukraine is an attempt to find her and thank her.
Lista, an old Ukrainian woman. At first Alex, Jonathan, and Grandfather mistake her for Augustine when they come upon her in a shack in a field, in the middle of nowhere. She takes them to the empty field where Trachimbrod once stood, and then tells them the story about the night Trachimbrod was overrun by Nazi tanks. She reveals, in a roundabout way, that she survived that night when the soldiers shot her unborn baby (by shooting into her uterus through her vagina). For her, surviving in that way was not a positive thing. She returned to Trachimbrod and collected all of the Jews' things, including jewelry, photographs, papers, and even gold fillings from their teeth. Then she buried them until after the war. The boxes that line her shack when Alex, Jonathan, and Grandfather enter are full of those things.
Safran, Jonathan's grandfather. Born with a full set of teeth, Safran became malnourished when his mother has to stop breastfeeding him. As a result, he has a withered arm, which somehow makes him very attractive to the women in the shtetl. His true love, however, is a gypsy girl with whom he has a relationship for seven years. His marriage to Zosha is an arranged marriage. After Zosha and their daughter die, Safran escapes to Odessa, then to the United States.
AGypsy Girl, Safran's friend and lover. The gypsy girl is an entertainer, traveling from village to village with her family. She is sorely abused within her family, having been beaten and raped. She meets Safran and the two fall in love, and share a 7-year relationship, until Safran's parents arrange for him to marry Zosha.
Zosha, Safran's first wife, who does not survive the Holocaust.
Menachem, Zosha's father.
Tova, Zosha's mother.
Eli, Alex's grandfather. Eli is married to Anna, and they have a son, Alex. Eli's best friend, who is closer than a brother to him, is Herschel, an extremely introverted Jew who has no family of his own, so Eli includes him with his family. Herschel loves Eli, Anna, and the baby. When German tanks overtake the town one night, the Germans round up all of the Jews. To do this, they ask each man to name a Jew from the town. If the man refuses, he is shot. Finally, all of the Jews except Herschel have been taken. Few people know who Herschel is; however, men are still being shot when they cannot name a Jew. When Eli is confronted, he names Herschel, who is then forced into the synagogue with the other Jews. The synagogue is then set ablaze, killing everyone inside. Eli lives with his guilt for the rest of his life. No one in his present life knows about his past.
Herschel, Eli's best friend. A bookish boy who is extremely shy, Herschel has no family of his own. He is befriended by Eli, and the two become very close, such that Eli adopts Herschel into his family. However, when a gun is placed to Eli's head as he stands with his wife and infant son, Eli betrays Herschel as a Jew.
Trachim B, the progenitor of the village of Trachimbrod. The first scene in the novel is that in which Trachim B and his loaded wagon fall from a bridge into the Brod River. His body is never found. The newborn infant, Brod, rises to the surface from the wreckage.
Hannah and Chana, twin daughters of the well regarded rabbi, who witness Trachim B's fateful accident.
Yankel D (a.k.a. Safran), Brod's father. Commonly referred to as the disgraced usurer, Yankel is large-bellied, with ring-lets of curly black hair covering his back. His real wife leaves him, but after he is given Brod to raise, he creates a story about a wife (who died in painless childbirth) to be Brod's mother, then falls in love with his “never wife,” the creation of his own mind. He is elderly—in his seventies— when he is given Brod to raise, so he is concerned for her welfare in the event of his death. He can't believe he's so blessed to have Brod as his own.
Bitzl Bitzl, the gefilte fish monger. He leads the effort to find Trachim's body after his wagon falls into the river.
Sofiowka N, a madman with a reputation for exposing himself in public. He rapes Brod.
Brod, the most beautiful girl in Trachimbrod. A solemn, lonely girl whose strange birth became a town legend, such that the townspeople hold an annual celebration known as Trachimday. Brod is very thin, looking malnourished though she is quite healthy. She has thick black hair. Though she is considered extremely stubborn, her shtetl neighbors find it endearing. Though she is the most loved girl, she is also the saddest and most lonely.
Shalom from Kolki (a.k.a. the Kolker; a.k.a. Safron), Brod's husband. The Kolker wins Brod's hand in marriage by diving for a sack of gold coins at the bottom of the Brod River. Only weeks after he starts his job at the flour mill, h e is in a terrible accident that leaves a saw blade stuck, permanently, in his head. (Removing it might kill him.) The real tragedy, however, is his outburst of profanity and rage that become so terrible that he must spend the rest of his days locked in a room, with only a small hole in the wall through which he and Brod can be together.
Shloim W, a widowed antiques salesman.
Mordechai C, the town's candle maker.
Menasha, the town's physician.
Froida Y, the candy maker.
Eliezar Z, the dentist.
Harry B, the shtetl's logician and known pervert.
Didl S, a narcoleptic potato farmer.
Mordecai, the milkman.
Shimon T, writes the shtetl's weekly newsletter.
Abraham M, the shtetl's doctor and sometimes caterer.