The Adventures of Augie March: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Adventures of Augie March" is a novel that follows the life journey of Augie March, a young man navigating the complexities of adulthood in Chicago during the Great Depression. As the narrator, Augie recounts his various experiences, illustrating his quest for meaning and identity through a series of odd jobs and encounters that shape his understanding of freedom, fairness, and personal integrity. Key characters include Simon March, Augie's older brother whose conventional choices contrast with Augie's more adventurous life; Georgie March, Augie’s disabled brother, whose departure impacts the family dynamic; and William Einhorn, a mentor with a complicated moral compass who influences Augie's development. Other notable figures are Thea Fenchel, Augie’s first love, and Stella Chesney, who eventually becomes his wife. Throughout the narrative, Augie's struggles and relationships highlight themes of personal growth, morality, and the often unpredictable nature of life. This exploration of character dynamics and growth provides a rich tapestry for understanding the societal challenges and personal dilemmas faced during a tumultuous era.
The Adventures of Augie March: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Saul Bellow
First published: 1953
Genre: Novel
Locale: Primarily Chicago, Illinois
Plot: Picaresque
Time: 1920's-the 1940's
Augie March, the narrator and main character of the story, which tells about his childhood and youth and about learning what it is to be a man. His final discovery is that there is no finality; to be involved with life and people means to hold on to such principles as freedom, fairness, and personal integrity, but it also means that one must constantly adjust the application of these principles to daily circumstances that challenge and change a person. Augie becomes involved in scratching out a living in the hard streets of Chicago, his home. During his adolescence, he takes a series of odd jobs, none of which appears to get him anywhere in a career. Augie is not interested in a career but in experience itself. He works as a distributor of handbills, a newspaper delivery boy, a janitor at a dime store, an elf in a department store at Christmastime, and a florist's deliverer, among other positions. When the Depression begins to squeeze everyone, he resorts to occupations that are outside the law, but his sense of basic morality is always strong. Augie serves in World War II. At the end of the story, he is living in Europe, where his wife, Stella, works in the film industry.
Simon March, Augie's older brother, who takes a different path and provides a contrast that places Augie's adventures in perspective. Augie's wanderings might appear to be haphazard and pointless but for the example of Simon, whose safe, correct choices lead him into a dull existence and a loveless marriage. At first, Augie appears to be a fool for refusing to yield to society's conventions, but at the end of the novel, it is clear that Simon, even though he is successful financially, is the one who squandered his life.
Georgie March, Augie and Simon's retarded brother, who is sent to a home when he gets old enough to cause trouble. Although Georgie had been a burden, when he leaves, the March family begins to fall apart. From Georgie, Augie learns how to sympathize with and care for others with handicaps, something that is important when he meets William Einhorn.
Grandma Lausch, not really Augie's grandmother but a longtime boarder at his parents' house. She tries to teach Augie about life and succeeds in acting more like a parent to him than do Augie's mother and father.
William Einhorn, an early employer of Augie who becomes one of his mentors. Although Einhorn is confined to a wheel-chair, he and the rest of his family are among the biggest real estate brokers in Chicago. Einhorn runs his many business affairs, some of them illegal, from a poolroom that he owns and where Augie works as his assistant. The Wall Street crash of 1929 wipes out Einhorn.
Mister Kreindl, a neighbor of the March family who often is involved in Augie and Einhorn's business dealings.
Thea Fenchel, the great love of Augie's young manhood. She is fascinated with an eagle and convinces Augie to go with her to Mexico, where the bird can be trained more easily. When Augie angrily confesses that he is working with the eagle and making the trip only to please her, she is hurt and shocked. She thought that he loved the eagle as she does and drops Augie.
Mr. Renling, Augie's coworker at a department store, who takes him in and gives him room and board when he attends City College. Mrs. Renling also takes an interest in Augie, treats him as her son, and tries to refine him with scathing comments about most of the people they encounter.
Joe Gorman, whom Augie first spurns when Gorman asks him to take part in a robbery. Gorman later involves Augie in smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada. Gorman gets arrested, and Augie has to leave town.
Manny Padilla, one of Augie's classmates at college. He is a book thief, a skill he teaches to Augie.
Mimi Villars, a girl who lives in one of Augie's rooming houses. She nearly dies after a botched abortion. Although Augie is not the father of her baby, he helps her as he had helped Georgie, Einhorn, and Mrs. Renling, demonstrating his basic humanity.
Grammick, a labor organizer who helps Augie start a career as a union agitator.
Stella Chesney, a girl Augie helps escape from her lover in Mexico. She later becomes Augie's wife. One of the main ironies of the novel is that Augie goes to Mexico because he loves Thea; during the trip, he is rejected by her and meets the woman he will marry.