Cloud Cuckoo Land

Another main protagonist, Zeno fulfills the archetype of the tragic hero when he dies during Seymour’s attempted bombing. His storyline in this book is different from the other main characters’ storylines because Zeno is not young when he interacts with Seymour at the convergence of their plots. His coming-of-age plot unfolds during the mid-20th century, which grants him wisdom over Seymour when their stories align in 2020. Zeno’s character is largely defined by regret and mistakes, and he can only admit to himself that “he should have risked more” when he directly faces death (542).

As an orphan, Zeno often feels alone. He is also a closeted gay man who feels he cannot come out, which further exacerbates his loneliness. Even when he is with people, however, he does not feel like he belongs. Working with the children alleviates him of “a great weight” because their genuineness supersedes the trappings of Zeno’s perfectionism (490). Zeno’s relationship to the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios, therefore, is not defined by his role as translator, but rather by the heroic change that allows him to see the greater importance of the story: It brings people together, uniting them through knowledge that has passed through generations already and might continue to do so.

Seymour is the book’s anti-hero: He does not govern himself by consistent morals and often causes harm. Seymour is neurodivergent, meaning that his cognitive and mental functions are different from those of most people, which causes changes in his actions and motivations. The world is often incompatible with Seymour, which is why “the unease mumbling at the margins of his every waking moment—the roar—falls quiet” when he is alone in nature (89). Seymour’s character represents many people who perceive the world in a way that alienates them from “typical” experiences.

Seymour’s development is defined by his radicalization and later capitulation. When asked why he believed Bishop’s claims or why he attempted the bombing, “each question [is] a needle into an overneedled heart” (562). This illustrates his character’s humanity and his acknowledgement that what he did was reckless. This complex dynamic runs parallel to Zeno’s storyline: They both change to fulfill the heroic archetype by the end of the book. Seymour transcends his role as anti-hero by making amends with Zeno’s children from the library, and in doing so he illustrates that he has learned that “for many of the things you love, it’s too late. But not for all” (601). This lesson defines his relationship to the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios because Seymour symbolically encounters them at the end of his plotline, which highlights that it is never too late to learn—something that Seymour’s character believes throughout his story.

Anna is another of the book’s main protagonists and is a dynamic character. As a young girl, she struggles with being honest and desires greater things. Anna and her sister Maria are foils: Where Maria is quiet and dutiful, Anna is the opposite. When Maria dies, Anna is left without her foil and must learn to seek balance between being perfect like Maria and adventurous like herself. Anna’s plotline emphasizes balance through these foils, and eventually she discovers and maintains this balance once she has accepted that freedom can be obtained through means other than running away.

Anna does not want to be like the other girls and women in her life. She rejects many aspects of prescribed femininity, like learning to read. Her commitment to reading illustrates her perseverance and links to themes of magic. The historical setting of her plotline is important to these themes because ideas of witchcraft or other supernatural powers were prevalent at this time. Her character relates to the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios by highlighting the feeling of magic achieved when reading stories. When at the end of her life, Anna’s real “memories intermingle with memories of the stories she has loved” (581), she illustrates that meaningful stories enjoyed in life become part of the self, embedding their messages and sentiments forever in the mind.

Omeir is the final protagonist of the book. His most defining physical feature is his cleft lip, which ostracizes him from most others. This visible source of alienation allows Omeir’s character to illustrate themes of prejudice and the very real effects it can have. His internalized shame about his appearance are the natural products of being constantly treated as lesser. Like the other main characters, Omeir often “looks up into the night and wonders what worlds drift among the faraway lights of the stars” (55), wondering if there is a place where he can fit in. As his coming of age plot progresses, he learns that comfort is created when he acts in alignment with his values.

Omeir’s character has an exceptional love and passion for animals, and his empathy for living beings fuels many of his actions. This empathy, however, also renders him incompatible with war: He cannot understand how the war will bring glory when so many must suffer to achieve victory. His connection to the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios relates to his love for animals because when he thinks Anna’s codex is destroyed after the storm, he feels “as though the codes were a living thing [...] and he has endangered it” (587). This represents the way stories “live” through the people who tell them. Omeir’s character illustrates that stories become more than their plot when people like Anna work so hard to bring them to life. This essential conceptualization of stories and knowledge propels Omeir to preserve the book and highlights his selflessness in the face of saving a “life.”

Aethon is the main character in the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios. He is a drunk shepherd obsessed with reaching a utopia. Because the fictional Cloud Cuckoo Land folios are comedic, Aethon’s character is intentionally ridiculous. The overt attempts to characterize him as “muttonheaded,” “lamebrained,” and “dull-witted” are excessive and unreliable. Aethon is the hero of his tale in the most classic sense: He leaves home, travels and changes, and returns a better person. Though situated in a comedy and subjected to ridiculous and humiliating circumstances, Aethon’s character ultimately proves to be loyal and true to himself, like Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey. The structure of this book renders Aethon’s character development nontraditional because he is a character within the fictional world of the book. He is brought to life by the other main characters because as they interact with his story, they impart some of their own characteristics in him.

Sybil is the Argos’s main intelligence system. She uses futuristic artificial intelligence to govern the ship’s systems and meet the needs of the passengers. As a machine, she is a non-traditional, static character. She is said to contain “the collective wisdom of our species” passively within her components (114). This passivity defines Sybil and places her in opposition to Konstance. As Konstance gains wisdom from understanding that there are many things she can never know, Sybil directly opposes this by continuing to serve her unchangeable primary directives. Sybil’s manipulation of Konstance illustrates the danger of conceptualizing knowledge as finite because Sybil is incapable of understanding her own limits.

The five children Zeno works with in his production of Cloud Cuckoo Land are Alex Hess, Rachel Wilson, Natalie Hernandez, Olivia Ott, and Christopher Dee. Although these characters are rather static and are not involved in most of the plot, they serve as mentor figures who teach Zeno. They collectively illustrate that children have just as much to teach adults as adults do children. Rachel plays the key role in suggesting the final order of the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios to ensure that “Aethon goes home” at the end to complete his nostos (542).

Rex is an English soldier who is a prisoner in Camp Five with Zeno during the Korean War. He is a static character who is motivated by his desire to take something previously lost and reclaim it. Rex’s Compendium of Lost Books acts as a tribute to works like the fictitious Cloud Cuckoo Land folios. Rex is Zeno’s unrequited love interest. Because Rex remains constant throughout the book, he does not initiate a romantic relationship with Zeno. It is never clear if Rex has romantic feelings for Zeno. This stability in his characterization relates to his commitment to lost books, and both work together symbolically to illustrate that unspoken feelings—like Zeno’s—will forever be lost to time.

Bunny is Seymour’s mother. She represents many people in the real world who work hard but cannot provide enough for their families. Her status as a single working mother strains her relationship with Seymour. This is an important characterization because it illustrates that effort does not always beget positive outcomes. Bunny’s perception of the world opposes Seymour’s, which is a primary source of their tension: Bunny believes that everything will work out in a way that Seymour cannot. Her static positivity does not help Seymour, rendering Bunny’s character largely powerless to change the course of her son’s actions.