Literary Devices in The Adventures of Augie March
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
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)....
Narrator Point of View
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 t...
Genre
The Adventures of Augie March is usually classified as a picaresque novel—a style of prose marked by satire, humor, and what we might call an over-the-top realism. The genre typically features a...
Tone
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 jud...
Writing Style
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 A...
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 in...
What's Up With the Epigraph?
And strange it is That nature must compel us to lamentOur most persisted deeds.Antony and CleopatraThe one epigraph in The Adventures of Augie March doesn't appear until well into the second half o...
What's Up With the Ending?
Is the human condition something of a joke? This is what Augie ponders at the end of his story. He finds it laughable that people weighed down by the burdens of existence (like him) will still rise...
Tough-o-Meter
The Adventures of Augie March takes some time to get used to. Augie is a verbose narrator who loves very long sentences and literary allusions. He's kind of a show-off, basically the original hipst...
Plot Analysis
The Story of ThemAs we noted in the plot overview, The Adventures of Augie March doesn't have a plot in the traditional sense. Events happen, usually in chronological order, but the only tie bindin...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Like The History of Tom Jones, another picaresque novel, The Adventures of Augie March follows the basic plot structure of a comedy. Most of the events fall into a stage of darkness or twilight—a...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
Augie's life is a string of loosely related and unrelated events. He doesn't fundamentally change in the novel, and in a way neither do his circumstances. If anything, Augie grows a little wiser wi...
Trivia
Christopher Hitchens considered The Adventures of Augie March to be in the running for the great American novel. So did Salman Rushdie. (Introduction and back cover to the Penguin Classics edition...
Steaminess Rating
The Adventures of Augie March has some sexually graphic language and several sex scenes. The main character, Augie March, has multiple partners. His encounters include casual sex with strangers, fl...
Allusions
Zeus 1.26Ulysses 5.1Hephaestus 5.18Sinbad 5.30Achilles 6.52Aeneas 7.80Medea 8.57Troy 8.138Paris 15.15Helen 15.15Prometheus 15.16Circe 16.74Osiris 22.50King Arthur 22.52The Bible 5.11Solomon 5.27Dav...