Dec 24, 2009

The Adventures of Augie March | Themes

The novel dramatizes the struggle of the individual with society, with "reality- instructors" and, ultimately, with himself. Augie March wants "a fate that is good enough"; he wants to touch all sides and not become a specialist. Yet how can the individual resist the enormous pressures of twentieth-century America, especially when it offers attractive temptations to conform? Augie encounters a series of powerful "reality-instructors," people who "are always trying to fit him into their schemes." These tempters include "Grandma" Lausch, William Einhorn, his friends, his lover, and his...