Augie March lives quite a life [in The Adventures of Augie March]. Up from the depths of poverty to the heights of success, back down, back up, and all in most peculiar fashion. Jobs, journeys, jolts—and women, women, women. Crime and college, labor unions and athletic clubs, Chicago and Mexico, slums and society, thievery and…
Tag: The Adventures of Augie March
Critical Analysis of The Adventures of Augie March
Why do so many literary critics prize The Adventures of Augie March so highly? It is a novel in which a young man comes of age in Chicago yet cannot settle down to one career or commit to one relationship. It is a novel in which, after several hundred pages, the hero, Augie March, suddenly…
Historical Context of The Adventures of Augie March
The Great Depression Much of the action of the novel takes place during the Great Depression, widely considered the most serious economic downturn in United States history. The Great Depression began in the autumn of 1929, when the largely unregulated stock market plunged and American industry came almost to a standstill. By the early 1930s,…
Literary Style & Symbolism in The Adventures of Augie March
The Coming-of-Age Novel The Coming-of-Age Novel, also known as a Bildungsroman, tells the story of a young person discovering their true self and the nature of the world as they come into adulthood. Other examples include Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The Adventures of Augie March…
Themes in The Adventures of Augie March
Self-Realization Perhaps the central theme of The Adventures of Augie March is its protagonist’s lifelong struggle to discover who he truly is and what his place in the world should be. This epic search for a path through life is what launches Augie into his ‘‘various jobs,’’ including smuggler, thief, teacher, and shoe salesman. But…
Major & Minor Characters in The Adventures of Augie March
Caligula Caligula is the young eagle trained to hunt lizards by Augie and Thea Fenchel. When he turns out to be ‘‘chicken,’’ Augie’s sympathy for him contributes to the tension between Augie and Thea. Uncle Charlie Charlotte Magnus’s uncle, Uncle Charlie helps set up Simon in the coal business. However, he takes less of a…
Plot Summary of The Adventures of Augie March: Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20
Augie and Thea settle in the town of Acatla, in a house owned by her family. Augie begins to wonder just why he is in Mexico. Thea has said earning money was the goal, but training an eagle to catch lizards seems to be a strange way of doing it. He also finds himself feeling…
Plot Summary of The Adventures of Augie March: Chapters 12, 13, 14 & 15
Simon and Charlotte marry, and Simon hatches a plan for Augie to marry Lucy Magnus, Charlotte’s cousin. The Magnuses, however, are not enthusiastic about Augie, largely because of his seeming lack of ambition and direction. He continues to work hard as Simon’s assistant at the coal yard, and business for the ruthless Simon rapidly improves….
Plot Summary of The Adventures of Augie March: Chapters 8, 9, 10 & 11
‘‘From here a new course was set,’’ declares Augie. He attends a city college at night and finds work at a clothing store during the day. Simon works in the same store, and the family is doing well enough to hire a mulatto (a person of both black and white ancestry), Molly Simms, to help…
Plot Summary of The Adventures of Augie March: Chapters 5, 6 & 7
In the fall of 1929, just before the stock market crash, Augie goes to work for a local businessman named William Einhorn. Augie calls Einhorn ‘‘the first superior man I knew’’ and becomes the ‘‘arms and legs’’ of his severely handicapped mentor. The Einhorn fortune was made by Einhorn’s father, the Commissioner. Augie is essentially…