The adventures of Augie March

Saul Bellow
Augie is the main character and narrator of Saul Bellow's novel, The Adventures of Augie
March. The book won the National Book Award for Fiction, which is a pretty prestigious honor.
Notable writers like Christopher Hitchens, Salman Rushdie, and Martin Amis were and are huge
fans. When people discuss contenders of the Great American Novel, Augie March gets
mentioned.
Okay. Lots of awards and praisedoes that mean it's a long, dull, difficult work? Well, we'll
admit that it's long and it's difficult, but it's far from dull. You meet some of the most odd and
outlandish characters to grace the pages of a novel since Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
There's a Frenchman who runs a luxury club for dogs and takes way too much pleasure using the
hypodermic needleso much so that Augie, when returning dogs to their owners, has to make
up stories for why the pets are unconscious. Umwhere does that go on a resume?
Then there's Thea, who could have had a part in Homer's Odyssey. With little effort, she talks
Augie into leaving everything and following her to Mexico so she can train a wild eagle to hunt
lizards. Try putting that into a romantic comedy. Augie himself is an odd duck. He contradicts
himself more than a politician does his campaign promises.
There's no overarching plot to the work. This can make it difficult to follow, but it gives the story
a realistic feel. How many of our lives follow the strict rising action-climax-conclusion
structure? None. This realism helps as Augie observes many strange people and unreal events. If
the story felt contrived, we'd all be saying "No way!" to half the things Augie tells us. It
would be too much, too incredible.

As it is, The Adventures of Augie March is a funny episodic account of Augie's life from late
childhood into his early adulthood. He lives during the Great Depression and World War II, so
it's also a very serious story. Ultimately it's about the absurdity of hope. A downer, you ask? On
the contrarythe novel's vision is hopeful. Augie's life would tell him that the American Dream
is an illusion, butguess what?he believes in it, even as he fails at it. He can laugh at the
absurdity. Maybe we can too. Or maybe we can't, but that probably means we don't have a very
good sense of humor.
How It All Goes Down
If you've read any of The Adventures of Augie March, you may be asking yourself, "Ermahgerd,
does this book even have a plot?" The novel seems more like a monologue interspersed with
loosely related and totally random episodes, like some old man who is more than happy to talk
your ear off going wherever his thoughts take him. Well, don't panic! The lack of a coherent plot
is intentional. This is a picaresque novel. Plotlessness (is that a word?) is part of the point.

The picaresque style favors an episodic approach to story telling. It centers on a rascally
character jumping from place to place, job to job, and even into the ivory towers of high-class
society. Our rascal is none other than the likeable Augie March.
He begins his story by describing some of his childhood. He grew up in Chicago, raised by his
half-blind mother and their boarder, "Grandma" Lausch. His father is out of the picture. He has
two brothers: Simon and George. They live off government charities and other social services,
deceiving one or the other about their real needs and what help they're already getting. So much
for brotherly love.
When Augie gets old enough, he finds a job and starts making money. For one of these jobs, he
moves in with his mother's cousin, Anna Coblin, and her family. Anna would love for Augie to
someday marry into her family. This is the first of a few occasions in which other families want
to bring Augie into their own. As the boys get older, Simon begins to disrespect Grandma Lausch
and George, who has special needs, is sent to a home where trained staff can care for him. Augie,
for his part, has been hanging out with boys who steal. And boys who steal have no appeal.
Augie gets a more serious job assisting a paralyzed property-owner named Einhorn, but when
the stock market crashes in 1929, Augie is let go. In the meantime, Augie hangs out a lot in the
poolroom Einhorn runs.
In need of cash, Augie assists a thief named Joe Gorman in a robbery. Uhyeah, that doesn't
sound like a very good idea. Einhorn is furious when he hears about it, warning Augie that a guy
like Gorman will get Augie into serious trouble with the law.
Augie turns to working for Mr. Renling at a sporting goods store, but gets a break from that work
when Mrs. Renling brings him along to help her out while she's on a vacation across Lake
Michigan. It's here that Augie meets the sisters Thea and Esther Fenchel. He falls for Esther and
Thea falls in love with him. It's sort of awkward.
Mrs. Renling wants to adopt Augie but he hits the road instead, foolishly joining Gorman for
another round of criminal activity. The two men head to New York to pick up immigrants from
Canada coming into the country illegally. Oh, and they're driving a stolen vehicle. The police
identify it, and Augie has to hitch his way back to Chicago.
When he gets home, he learns his mother has moved out of their home and that Grandma Lausch
has died. So much for a welcome back party. Augie and his brothers try to find a new place for
their Mama to live. Augie then befriends Manny Padilla and learns to steal and sell expensive
books to college students (too bad they couldn't just use Shmoop). Simon, meanwhile, hatches a
plan to marry into a rich family.
The plan works and it looks like Augie will be able to follow in his brother's footsteps, but he
ruins his reputation with the rich family after he's caught helping his friend Mimi Villars get an
illegal abortion. She later gets Augie a job as a union organizer. This goes well for a time and
Augie has a fling with a woman he meets on the job. Her name is Sophie. She's engaged to be
married, but wants to get all the passion for infidelity out of her system before she says the vows.
Good luck with that, Soph.

Thea comes back into Augie's life. She's still in love with him and wants him to come with her to
Mexico. She's going there to get a divorce and to train an eagle to hunt lizards. Train what? To
hunt what? An eagle? What is this, the steppes of Outer Mongolia? This is too outlandish even
for Augie, right? Ha! With the union job putting Augie in physical danger, Augie decides to go
with her. Of course he does.
They travel toward Mexico, buy an eagle and train it, but the bird doesn't meet Thea's
expectations. And neither does Augie. He's severely injured when his horse throws him off and
tramples him, and he begins to drift apart from Thea while he's recovering. Augie shows more
interest in a woman named Stella who's staying at the hotel next to their house in Mexico.
Typical Augie. His own worst enemy. We guess Taylor Swift was on to something when she said,
"Boys only want love if it's torture."
Thea leaves him after he helps Stella get away from the man she's with. Thea suspects that Augie
slept with Stella. She's right. Stupid Augie. Augie tries to get her back, but with no success. He
does get to see Trotsky, the famous Russian revolutionary, before he heads back home. He
doesn't get a t-shirt, but, you know, he makes do.
When Augie gets back to Chicago, he drifts a bit before taking a job helping a millionaire write a
book about the history of wealth and a possible earthly paradise on the horizon. Their partnership
doesn't last. Augie starts seeing Sophie again, and it looks like they might marry, but then the war
breaks out. Augie enlists and begins training. He meets up again with Stella. They fall in love
and get married. Augie ships off and his lost for a time at sea after his ship is attacked.
At the end of the novel, Augie and Stella are in Paris. There's trouble brewing between them.
Will they make it work? Will Augie follow the dream he tells her aboutsettling into a quiet life
running a school? We can only hope. Or not.
Augie does what Augie does.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF CRIMINALITY
Set mostly in Chicago before and during the Great Depression, The Adventures of Augie
March gives readers several glimpses into the criminal world of the time, without all the pesky
danger of actually being there. The poor steal to make ends meet, but we also meet swindlers and
crooks that take to crime because they're good at it, or they're just plain bored. Augie March, the
narrator of his adventures, meets all kinds of criminals, rich and poor, and he occasionally gets
involved in their plots, big and small. For Augie, and for the novel, criminality is an aspect of
human life. It's all around, but it doesn't have to define you, even if you're guilty of a few
transgressions here and there. We wonder what Judge Judy would have to say about that
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF FAMILY
What makes a family and what holds it together? Is shared blood more important than shared
goals and sentiments? The Adventures of Augie March asks these questions, even if it doesn't
answer them. Augie himself comes from a broken home. His father abandoned him and his
mother exercises little authority over her three boys. The head of the household is a boarder they

call Grandma. As Augie becomes involved in other people's lives, he's often involved in other
families. He witnesses the costs that adultery, financial hardship, children, and childlessness have
on family lives and values. The novel gives us these observations, but it's up to the reader to
draw the conclusions.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF LOVE
Augie March has a blank space, baby, and he'll write your name. His love life would be fodder
for more than a few Taylor Swift songs. His story is a steady string of failed romanceshe
shakes one off as he moves to the next. Saul Bellow's novel relates Augie's experiences with love
to his general flighty disposition. He transitions from love to love just as he moves from job to
job. He has no more lifelong devotion to any lover than he does to any dream career. And yet
love is important to him and to all ofThe Adventures of Augie March. We're led to ask: what is
the most love can be in the transitory world of ours?
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF AMBITION
How do you fuel your ambitions when the world about you crumbles and the typical
opportunities of life are lost to you? The Adventures of Augie March is set shortly before and
during the Great Depressiona time when financial hardship hit everyone and even the very rich
fell into ruin. Dreams were lost in a flash. This is the backdrop to much of Augie's story and the
stories of those around him. We watch as they struggle to reclaim what was lost, build with what
they can, and give up what stands in their way. At the end of the story, we wonder what the
American Dream is really worth and whether it's really possible.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF IDENTITY
Can we understand ourselves apart from others? Is our identity our own or is it fashioned by the
influence of other people upon us? Can we rise above limits society defines for us? And if we
can and do, what is the cost? Is identity even all that important? The Adventures of Augie
March takes us through these questions. Its titular character, Augie March, searches for who he is
and where he belongs. It's no coincidence he doesn't directly tell us a lot about himself. One of
the beauties of this story is that we come to understand him through the events and people who
have an influence upon him.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF FATE AND FREEWILL
Rather than put fate and freewill into opposition, The Adventures of Augie March defines the two
terms in relation to each other. In the world of the novel, your fate is not so much a determined
destination, but a general course of life over which you have some control. Circumstances and
choices blend together. For some, their choices have more power than their circumstances. For
others the opposite is the case. People born poor may die poor, despite doing everything right to
succeed financially, but not every impoverished person is necessarily doomed to live forever in
poverty. The American Dream is possible, if not always realistic for everyone.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF DREAMS, HOPES, PLANS

It's typical for college students to change majors once, twice, maybe three times, but those who
graduate eventually settle their decision and move ahead. Augie March, the protagonist of
Bellow's great American novel, has lived his entire adult life (so far) like the college freshman
who can't decide where to specialize. He moves from job to job, relationship to relationship, and
place to place all because he doesn't know what he wants for himself.The Adventures of Augie
March tells a story about a character for whom the sky is the limit, but can't seem to figure out
which direction is up
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF POVERTY
Ever wonder what it was like to be poor in early twentieth century America?The Adventures of
Augie March gives us several snapshots of the conditions people faced, particularly after the Wall
Street crash and before the start of the Second World War. Business owners struggle to sustain
themselves and their families. People in great need search unsuccessfully for gainful
employment. Free-riders pack trains to hitch a ride from place to place. A lot of folks take to
crime. Through Augie's adventures, we see how some people suffered from poverty and how
others used it for their own advantage. Which path would you choose?
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF SOCIETY AND CLASS
The Adventures of Augie March doesn't have the close-up scrutiny of class arrangements and
conflicts that you get in Gosford Park or Jane Austen, but the divide between the wealthy,
independent and the poor, dependent is a recurring theme in the novel. Augie travels in both
worlds, but his is no Cinderella story (sorry, Hilary Duff). The American Dream is important to
him, but in a less tangible sense than what it is for most people pursuing the dream. As America
is home to both the rich and the destitute, Augie is at home among both classes.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH THEME OF RELIGION
As The Adventures of Augie March moves quickly from place to place without a singular plot,
the novel's thematic content can come off as more of glance than a gaze. Like the book's other
themes, the topic of religion comes up again and again, but without much careful examination.
This doesn't make for a shallow story, mind you, but we do have to do more work to uncover the
big picture. The picture we get is of religion as a haunting presence in the American social
consciousness. It's there, in the background, an influence on the behavior of the characters, even
if they're neither devout nor pious. It lurks.
AUGIE MARCH
Character Analysis
Augie can be a difficult character to define because he doesn't directly tell us a lot about himself.
One of the most important aspects of the story is how he's unsure of his own values, plans, and
what he wants out of life. Augie narrates his story, but he's arguably a little in the dark about the
main characterhimself.
All the influences were lined up waiting for me. I was born, and there they were to form me,
which is why I tell you more of them than of myself. (4.1)

If we're going to understand Augie, we'll have to look at what other people say about him and
measure their words against what Augie himself says about his actions and his thoughts. As he
says himself, he is sometimes "under and influence and not the carrier of it" (12.40). He's not
always entirely himself (12.38).
The Flawed Adventurer
Saul Bellow formed Augie in the mold of the picaresque heroa low class rascal who jumps
from job to job, evading consequences and responsibility (We're looking at you, Lindsay Lohan).
Augie is a better version of the archetype. He flies from job to job, disinclined to settle into
anything permanent. He'll engage in minor criminal enterprises when he feels he must, but these
plays don't carry him far or stay with him as a habithe's just "experimenting."
In his youth, he has "a very weak sense of consequence," but he matures with age (4.2).
Somewhat. Grandma Lausch pegs him early on in his life: "you're too easy to tickle," the boarder
tells him. "Promise you a joke, a laugh, a piece of candy, or a lick of ice-cream, and you'll leave
everything and run" (3.8). This makes Augie easy to manipulate.
Stella, who becomes his wife, notes that he (and she) "fit into other people's schemes" (18.52)
and people are always trying to get them to play along. Ironically, this is precisely what she does
to him in the moment of this conversation, but Augie's too much a fool to see it. Thea, another
lover, tells him he plays everyone's games (18.154). "Guys like you make life easy for some
women," his friend Mimi says to him (21.128). Is it just us, or is this starting to sound like a
Taylor Swift song?
Augie jumps from place to place, relationship to relationship, and job to job for a couple of
reasons. First, he wants distinctiveness and doesn't like other people trying to make him into
something else.
Second, he doesn't know what or who he wants to be, so he's constantly trying out new things.
One moment he's thinking of marrying someone, "when all of a suddenwham! the war broke
out and then there was nothing but war that you could think about" (22.66). He'll be in the
middle of a relationship that he really wants to fix, but wreck all chance of restoration by helping
a beautiful woman he hardly knows out of a jam.
Third, he likes to mix it up. He probably takes well to Einhorn because the poolroom owner pays
him for "unspecified work of a mixed character." Augie reflects:
I accepted it as such; the mixed character of it was one of the things I liked.(5.10)
There's a fourth reason for Augie's refusal to settle, come to think of it. He lives by a principle
a slogan he picks up from his friend Manny Padilla:
Easy or not at all (21.127).
Augie puts it this way:

I always believed that for what I wanted there wasn't much hope if you had to be a specialist,
like a doctor or other expertSpecialization means difficulty, or what's there to be a specialist
about? (21.127)
For Augie March, life is all about getting to the top without ever having to climb. We'll see how
that turns out for him.
An Observer and a Listener
People feel comfortable around Augie. On board the ship, while travelling to war, many of the
crew seek out Augie like they would a therapist or bartender:
Before long the word got around that I was a listener to hard-luck stories, personal histories,
gripes, and that I gave advice, and by and by I had a daily clientele, almost like a fortuneteller.
By golly, I could have taken fees!(25.34)
Who knows, he could have been the next Miss Cleo!
A Sucker for Love
So what makes Augie a likable guy? He's friendly and easy-going, and he's reasonably dedicated
to love. When Einhorn wants him to treat his brother Simon poorly after he broke a promise,
Augie remains loyal to his blood. He doesn't take advantage of the wrong. He forgives and
moves on. Augie is not one to hold grudges. And we all know what happens when
people holdgrudges.

Augie also has enough sense to see when he's failed at love. After he's returned to Chicago
following the disastrous trip to Mexico with Thea, Augie admits to Padilla that he did wrong: "I
didn't love her as I ought to have. You see, I missed out. I should have been more pure and stayed
with it. There was something wrong with me."
Augie's Timeline

Under the guidance of Grandma Lausch, Augie games the social services system.

He goes to work for the Coblins and follows this with various other jobs.

Augie goes to work for Einhorn.

Mrs. Renling takes him with her to Benton Harborhe meets the Fenchel sisters.

He teams up with Joe Gorman to bring immigrants into the country illegally.

Simon sets him up with Lucy Magnus.

Augie falls out of her favor after helping Mimi get an illegal abortion.

He becomes a union organizer.

Next, he drives with Thea to Mexico to train the eagle, Caligula.

He meets Stella and returns to Chicago after he and Thea break up.

The war breaks out.

Augie marries Stella.

They live and work in Europe.

SIMON MARCH
Character Analysis
Simon is Augie's older brother and a regular presence in the novel. Although raised in much the
same environment as Augie, he has a different personality, value system, and course of life than
his younger brother.
For a little while Simon, like Augie, dips his hand into a variety of venturessome fruitful and
some foolish. Unlike his brother, he's not a romantic idealist, picturing some vague far off future.
He sets his sights on an obtainable objective and shoots after it.
First a Lover then a Fighter
Early on in his adult life, Simon sets his sights on marriage. He gets engaged to Cissy Flexner, a
girl from their neighborhood. He doesn't have the dough to pay for all the expenses, and he
makes some foolish decisions, like getting beat up after losing a bet on a White Sox game. Come
on Simon, who bets on the White Sox? That's just asking for trouble. Then Simon becomes
enraged when Cissy calls off the engagement. He goes to her house, breaks chairs, and has the
police called on him. He spends the night in prison. Cissy definitely made the right decision to
dump his angry butt.
Switched Priorities
Eventually Simon's focus pays off for him. Now willing to sacrifice love for money, Simon
courts a wealthy young heiress named Charlotte Magnus. He convinces herand her family
that he'll use the money he gets to build more wealth. He's not interested in living comfortably,
but in working hard throughout his life. He convinces the Magnuses, who take a liking to him,
and he marries Charlotte.
True to his word, Simon becomes a successful businessman. Unfortunately, he also becomes a
ruthless one. He uses his contacts with the police to intimidate troublesome customers. He
demands special treatment for his mother in the retirement home. He's also cruel to Charlotte,
joking with her that "Nobody's ever been laid better at any price" (11.53). Yuck.
A Family ManSort of
When Simon introduces Augie to the Magnuses, he puts on a show, telling Augie in their
presence how much better the Magnus family is than their own: "you can see how unlucky we

were not to have this kind of close and loyal family. There isn't anything these people won't do
for one another" (11.57).
For all his talk of family loyalty, Simon can be hard on his own. When he begins an adulterous
affair, his attitude is that Charlotte can just do the same, and "that's her problem if she can't"
(22.99). However, he does love his mother and his brothers. He even tries to bring Augie into a
similar arrangement with Lucy Magnus, but matchmaking isn't his forte.
Something of a Snob
Wealth makes Simon desire only the best for him and his own. When Augie goes to a county
hospital to have an operation so he can enlist and go to war, Simon visits him, but Augie also
tells us this:
Simon came to see me and threw a bag of oranges on the bed. He bawled me out that I hadn't
gone to a private hospital. His temper was bad and nothing and nobody was spared in his
glare. (22.71)
To Augie, the outcome of Simon's decision to become one of the Magnusesin effect doing
what Augie refused to do with the Renlingsconfirms that he, Augie, made the right decision.
Simon gains wealth and a wife, but he's also always angry at something and generally unpleasant
to be around. Augie's like, kthxbai.
THEA FENCHEL
Character Analysis
Poor Thea. She's the girl in the background, a regular Eponine. Thea falls in love with Augie
while he's staying with Mrs. Renling at Benton Harbor. She tries to convince Augie to return her
love, but he's way too into her sister Esther.
Thea returns to his life later and succeeds in winning his heart, if not his trust. She has a wild
dream of living in Mexico and training an eagle to hunt lizards, and she talks Augie into
following her in this adventure. It fails when the eagle proves too timid. She grows jealous of
Augie and leaves him, but Augie gives more attention to their turbulent relationship than he does
to any others.
Augie describes her fondly:
She was a kind of universalist, believing that where she stood the principle laws were underfoot.
And this made her tremble, but also she was daring.(18.76)
Like other women in Augie's life, Thea is strong-willed and seeks to be an influence on Augie.
She simply assumes that Augie will follow her to Mexico (14.13) and, without a care for his
tastes, outfits him for the trip:
Thea has such very exact ideas as to what I should put onIt was evident that she was used to
having what she wanted, including me. (14.1523)

Thea's a lot like Augiequick to fall in love, quick to lose interest, but all the while very much
in need of other people. When she leaves Augie, she doesn't head out on her own. She's already
found a replacement. She doesn't unpack suitcases, but lives out of them regardless of the mess
and disorder. She can't seem to stay in one place for long. And she longs for something "better
than what people call reality" (14.21).
Perhaps Augie falls for her for so long because they are alike:
I went where and as she said and did whatever she wanted because I was threaded to her as if
through the skin. (14.16)
Character Analysis
Agnes and Mintouchian
Agnes and Mintouchian are friends with Stella and Augie. Mintouchian, a crack lawyer, tells
Augie about some facts of Stella's past that she hasn't told Augie. He seems to be a cynic about
true love, but he loves Agnes.
Anna and Hyman Coblin
Anna is Augie's mother's cousin, which makes her Augie's second cousin. Augie moves in with
them while he's helping Hyman with his newspaper route. Their son, Howard, has run away, and
Augie in a way takes his place, especially for Anna. A very religious woman, she gives Augie
what she considers to be a proper religious education.
Basteshaw
Basteshaw is the carpenter on the ship on which Augie ships out to war. He's the only other
survivor when their ship is attacked and sinks. Bateshaw calls himself a "psycho-biophysicist"
and claims to have been canned by six universities for his strange scientific experiments and
ideas. A real charmer.
Charlotte and Lucy Magnus
Watch out Paris, there's a new heiress in town. Charlotte is a member of the wealthy Magnus
family and marries none other than Simon March. She knows he's married her more for money
than for love, but she accepts the arrangement. Lucy is her sister. Augie is set to marry her until
his involvement with a friend's abortion puts an end to the engagement. The Magnus family
values hard work, dedication, and determinationqualities Simon has and Augie lacks.
Clem Tambow
Jimmy Klein's cousin. He wants to be an actor, but he looks down on himself, particularly his
looks. He inherits money and enrolls in college, but he's really just there to meet women. To
them, he tries to present himself as an experienced lover. What a skeezwad.
Five Properties

Anna Coblin's brother. He likes to say "Five prope'ties. Plente money." He drives a dairy truck.
Later in the novel, he marries a woman Simon had been with and hoped to wed.
Frazer
Frazer studies politics at the university and is Mimi's lover while there. He later meets Augie in
Paris, where they are both living and working. He's "into politics," which probably tells us quite
a bit about his personality.
George
Augie's special needs brother, George (or Georgie) is well loved by his family, but they are
forced to put him in a home with professional staff so that he doesn't bring anyone to harm.
Grammick
A clever and effective union organizer, Grammick brings Augie into the field. Grammick uses his
wits rather than fear and force to get his way. He's our kind of guy.
Grandma Lausch
An elderly Russian matriarch who lives with the March family as a boarder, Grandma Lausch is
intelligent and strong-willed. Her sons have arranged this as it works for them and works for the
Marches. She runs the household, teaching the boys the ways of the world in the hopes they'll
become gentlemen, if nothing higher. She has a poodle named Winnie, no relation to Pooh.
Guillaume
One of the oddest characters we meet, Guillaume managers a luxury club for dogs. He has a
temper and a fondness for using the hypodermic needle on his clients' pets.
Iggy
Augie's friend in Mexico, Iggy tries to comfort Augie after Thea leaves him. He also corrects
Augie misperceptions, showing Augie the harm he himself did to his relationship with Thea.
Iggy and Augiesounds like quite the duo.
Jimmy Klein
Jimmy is Augie's childhood friend. Grandma doesn't like him because he steals and gets into
trouble. Later in the novel, Jimmy catches Augie shoplifting books, but because of their old
friendship, he helps Augie out.
Mama
Augie's mother is mostly blind, not very intelligent, superstitious, and not much of an influence
on Augie's life. We guess the apple does fall far from the tree after all. She's been abandoned by
the boy's father and only gets by because of the aid of Grandma Lausch.
Manny Padilla

Listen close to Manny, all you college students out there: Manny teaches Augie the art of stealing
expensive books. He also becomes a life-saver to him and Mimi when the hospital refuses to
treat Mimi for abortion complications. Manny knows a doctor and makes the introductions.
(Disclaimer: Shmoop does not condone book stealing, so don't get any ideas.)
Mimi Villars
Mimi is a waitress Augie meets while staying in student housing. She lives in the next room.
They become very good friends, but not lovers. She's dating a student named Frazer. Augie
admires her because he's exceptionally strong-willed, speaks her mind to a fault, and has a keen
sense for who she is. She ridicules him for his stupid decisions. When Mimi discovers she's
pregnant, she goes to Augie for help, and he accompanies her to a doctor who performs illegal
abortions. When the procedure has complications, Augie takes her to the hospital.
Moulton
Augie meets Moulton in Mexico. He's a writer and has a habit of calling Augie by the name
"Bolingbroke," because to him Augie looks like someone who should have that name if he
already doesn't have it.
Mr. and Mrs. Renling
Mr. Renling runs a sporting goods business and hires Augie. Mrs. Renling thinks of Augie like a
son and brings him with her when she goes to Benton Harbor. She wants to adopt Augie and is
offended when Augie declines her offer.
Sophie Geratis
Sophie is a chambermaid in a luxury hotel. She speaks for a delegation that wants to organize
into a union, and meets Augie when he's the union rep. They become lovers even though Sophie
is engaged. Later, Sophie wants to get a divorce and marry Augie. This might have happened, but
World War II erupts and distracts Augie. Sophie who?
Stella
Stella is an actress Augie meets in Mexico. She's with a man named Oliver but doesn't love him.
She asks Augie to help her get away from him. In the escape, they sleep together. Later, she and
Augie start seeing each other and get married. Unknown to Augiefor a timeStella has been
threatening a former lover named Cumberland. She lies to Augie when he confronts her about
him. She's also not convinced she wants the settled life that Augie desires. But is Augie even
convinced that's what he desires?
Tillie and Arthur Einhorn
Tillie is William Einhorn's wife and Arthur is their son. Tillie is shy and puts up with her
husband's regular adultery. Arthur is a smart boy, but has to move back in with his folks after he
gets a sexually transmitted disease and has a baby abandoned to him by the child's mother.
Arthur falls in love with Mimi.

William Einhorn
Augie describes Einhorn as "the first superior man I knew" (5.1). He runs a poolroom and owns
other properties, but loses a lot of his wealth after the Crash. He hires Augie to assist him with
basic tasks because he's paralyzed. To Augie, he's a superior man not because he always
succeeds, but because he doesn't let his limits hold him down. Einhorn refuses to let his paralysis
prevent him from having money or mistresses.
Where It All Goes Down
Chicago, the Northeast U.S., Mexico, Europe
"I'm an American, Chicago born," says Augie, introducing himself to the reader. Most of his
story takes place in "that somber city," as he calls it (1.1). It's a place of dirty alleys, seedy
poolrooms, illegal abortion clinics, gangster shootings, and poor apartment flats. Augie describes
his home after his brother George has been taken to a home:
The house was also changed for us; dinkier, darker, smaller; once shining and venerated things
losing their attraction and richness and importance. Tin showed, cracks, black spots where
enamel was hit off, threadbarer, design scuffled out of the center of the rug, all the glamour,
lacquer, massiveness, florescence wiped out. (4.53)
Einhorn expresses a similar though more cynical perspective of the city:
This city is one place where a person who goes out for a peaceful walk is liable to come home
with a shiner or bloody nose, and he's almost as likely to get it from a cop's nightstick as from a
couple of squareheads who haven't got the few dimes to chase pussy on the high rides in
Riverview and so hang around the alley and plot to jump someone. (5.42)
For Einhorn, however, the roughness of Chicago has its advantage. While other great cities, with
their public art and other marvels, incline you to think human savagery is a thing of the past, the
residents of Chicago should have no such illusions (5.43).
Einhorn owns and runs a poolroom, so he gets to see a fair share of disreputable folks. Augie too
sees the dark side of a "cold, wet, blackened Chicago day" (8.7), but he's not so put down by the
roughness of the place. You might say he has illusionsEinhorn wouldbut maintaining hope
after life's hard knocks is Augie's thing. He's got that music in his mind saying everything
is going to be alright.
Augie occasionally gets out of the city. He takes a trip with Mrs. Renling across Lake Michigan
to Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, and stays at the very nice Merritt Hotel. Here he can spy on
pretty women at the beach and eat fancy food on Mrs. Renling's dime. Luxury could have
become Augie's permanent digs if he had accepted Mrs. Renling's offer to adopt him, but Augie
doesn't need snazzy dining rooms or inherited wealth to be content and hopeful for the future. It's
no surprise that Einhorn is shocked at Augie's refusal.
Mexico is a very different world. Augie and Thea stay at a house on the edge of the mountains. It
has two patios, allowing them a nice view and a place to train the bird. Lizards and snakes are all

around. In the mountains, the odor is "snaky," and they seem "in the age of snakes among the hot
poisons of green and livid gardenias" (16.60).
Here Augie is closer to nature, but he's not particularly moved by it. He's in Mexico because he
wants to be with Thea. When they split, he goes back to Chicago.
Interestingly, the final setting of the novel isn't Chicago or another location in America. Augie,
now married, lives and works in Paris. Frazer, an old pal, lives here now as well. To Frazer, Paris
represents the hope that "Man could be free without the help of gods, clear of mind, civilized,
pleasant, and all of that" (26.55). To Augie, it's mostly just another locale, not terribly more or
less important in his life than other spots. For a moment, though, inspired by Frazer, Augie does
wonder if Paris could be the place for him. We don't find out.

Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)
Augie March narrates The Adventures of Augie March. For the most part, he tells his tales in
roughly a chronological order, although he'll jump around and tie in insights he learned at some
other time. He's a longwinded chap, never hesitant to work into his narrative a bit of history,
judgment, philosophical musing, or a very detailed physical description. Oh, and he loves a good
reference. Here he is describing how Einhorn took the Crash in 1929:
The Crash was Einhorn's Cyrus and the bank failures his pyre, the poolroom his exile from Lydia
and the hoodlums Cambyses, whose menace he managed, somehow, to get around. (7.1)
Sure, why not romanticize his boss by comparing him to the ancient king of Lydia, Croesus?
We've all done that, right? Well, maybe not. Let's just say this is Augie's way of sounding hip the
way we would with a Game of Thrones or Mad Men reference.
Adventure Satire and Parody - Picaresque
The Adventures of Augie March is usually classified as a picaresque novela style of prose
marked by satire, humor, and what we might call an over-the-top realism. The genre typically
features a low class drifter, often a rogue, whose episodic adventures shine a light on the corrupt
society in which he lives.
Augie fits the "picaro" character mold pretty well. He's not overly concerned with right and
wrong. He can't keep a job. His adventures take him into the worlds of both the rich and the poor.
We wouldn't entirely call him an amoral rogue, however. For all his faults and failings, Augie has
a moral compass and a set of principles. He loves and honors his family. He refuses to lose his
hope. He'll sacrifice his reputation and his future to help a friend in need. He's the kind of guy we
could see ourselves kicking back with over a nice tall glass of clamato juice.
Bellow uses the picaresque genre style, but with more nuance and depth than the rules of the
genre call for. Augie is in many ways a good man, even if he can be a rascal at times. He doesn't

avoid punishment and trouble, but accepts them as part of life and as sometimes deserved. When
Thea breaks up with him, he admits to a friend that he didn't love her as he should have.
Augie moves from adventure to adventure not usually because of crimes, as is often the case
with the picaresque hero, but because he's not satisfied and wants something greater. The satire
of the novel is therefore not as biting or cynical as it would otherwise be. Augie's adventures
point out the contradictions inherent to the American Dream, but Augie himself is a believer in
that dream, and he wants us to believe in it as well.
Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Detached, Humorous, Casual
Augie tells us a lot about the people he meets, but he's less interested in the stories they would
tell than presenting them as players in his own life. He's not so distant that he doesn't make
judgments, but Augie doesn't come across as emotionally invested in their joys and sorrows. He's
not unemotional, by any means. He cries. He laughs. He grieves when people he loves die. His
emotional responses, however, tend to be self-centered because the world does revolve around
him, after all.
This self-centeredness gets him into trouble with others. The obvious example is Augie's doomed
love affair with Thea, which we discuss in theCharacter Roles section. Augie loves Thea, but he
never bothers to make her concerns and goals his own simply because they're hers. He doesn't
even think to do so. Um, narcissistic much? Another example is Augie's response to damaging
Simon's car:
This was just where the error was; it was that I had to feel bad about the back shell of the car
and those crustacean eyes that were dragging by the wires, and it wasn't just the accident as my
failure to care as I should that he minded. (12.75)
If something doesn't affect Augie, he usually doesn't care about it. There are exceptions, though.
When Augie learns from Einhorn that Simon had spent a night in jail, we read, "I suffered to
myself for Simon. It was crazy, how. It crushed me to hear and picture" (10.78). But even these
moments turn a tad self-centered. With Simon having been arrested, Augie says, "I sat before
[Einhorn] stripped; I knew of nowhere to turn and had no force to leave" (10.85). His thoughts
are back to himself.
This disposition of his affects the tone of his narrativeor, we could say, Bellow based the tone
of his novel on the personality of his narrator. Augie shares details with us about the people he
knowshe talks about them more than he talks about himself. Nevertheless, it's their place in his
life that interests him. When, for example, Augie goes to Mexico, he goes around and tells his
fiends what he'll be doing, but he doesn't ask them what they'll be doing or how his departure
with affect their lives. Those matters are mostly off his radar.
Augie's narrative tone is also humorous and casual. He describes off-the-wall antics as if they
were merely a little curious. After hearing about Simon's run-in with the law, Augie gets a job at
a luxury club for dogs. He picks them up and brings them to the business. The chief, Guillaume,

has sadistic fun with the hypodermic needle, yelling "Thees jag-off is goin' to get it!" Augie
casually says the man "used the hypo more than I thought he should" (10.105). Understatement!
And why does Augie leave the job? "Only the work fatigued me, and I stunk of dog," he informs
us (1.105). Not the hyper use of the hypo, in other words.
ANALYSIS: WRITING STYLE
Observant, Rapid, Expansive
Augie may tire quickly of individual women and individual jobs, but he never tires of long and
observant descriptions. This is clear right off the bat in the first paragraph of the novel:
I am an American, Chicago bornChicago, that somber cityand go at things as I have taught
myself, freestyle, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted;
sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man's character is his fate,
says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn't any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by
acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles. (1.1)
This is the opening paragraph of the novel, and it gives us a good feel for the style of the book.
Augie will begin to make a pointin the case, that he's from Chicagoand then he'll interrupt
himself with a tangential remark or two.
The flow of the text doesn't drag, however, as Bellow knows exactly when and where to pause or
to switch the tempo. His sentences are long, often complex, but broken into manageable snippets.
You'll count ten pauses in that first sentence. This gives Augie's descriptions, observations, and
anecdotes a rapid, remarkable, and recognizable rhythm. Bellow's prose is like a drummer
capturing the flight of a bird.
ANALYSIS: WHAT'S UP WITH THE TITLE?
You aren't led astray by the title, The Adventures of Augie March. The titular character and
narrator of the novel has oh so many adventures. He doesn't outwit dragons or follow his spirit
guide into another dimension, but his experiences are just as outlandish as those. Really, who
takes a road trip from Chicago to Mexico in order to train an eagle to hunt like a falcon? Well,
that would be our Augie, following the ambitions of a beautiful woman he hardly knows. Not
extraordinary enough for you? How about being lost at sea with a homicidal maniac who
believes he has created new life? How about running into Trotsky in Mexico? Would you believe
he meets a police officer who remembers every alleged criminal he's ever seen? Or that Augie
works for a time for a luxury dog caretaker who's overly fond of the hypodermic needle? Believe
it, Scully. These adventures are for realz.