quick lessons picked up from
The Adventure of Augie March
which can probably impact for
the long time to come
Picaresque novel
early form of novel,
usually a first-person narrative,
relating the adventures of a
rogue or low-born adventurer
(Spanish pícaro)
as he drifts from place to place and
from one social milieu to another in his effort to
survive.
Bildungsroman
the novel of personal development or of education
which charts the protagonist’s actual or metaphorical
journey from youth to maturity.
Initially the aim of this journey is reconciliation
between the desire for individuation (self-fulfilment)
and the demands of socialisation
(adaptation to a given social reality).
Everyman
In literature and drama the term has come to mean
an ordinary individual with whom
the audience or reader is
supposed to be able to
identify easily and who is
often placed in extraordinary circumstances
Existentialism
Existence is it's own point.
Augie March bobs along from Chicago to Mexico
to Europe to an open boat in the Atlantic,
experiencing life and meeting a variety of characters-
observing without judging,
experiencing without changing,
seeking without finding.
Life does not need to be affirmed, it simply is.
American Dream
is a national ethos of the United States in which
freedom includes the opportunity for
prosperity and success.
In the definition by James Truslow Adams in 1931,
“life should be better and richer and fuller
for everyone, with opportunity for
each according to ability or achievement
regardless of social class or circumstances of birth”.
American Adam
refers to the image of an authentic American as
a figure of heroic innocence and vast potentials.
Augie is similar to an early American Adam who
seeks to make America an earthly paradise.
Machiavellian Influences
Augie encounters Machiavellian-style individuals who
strategically exercise their energy, wit,
and influence,and look to the material world
for an understanding of their own.
From early childhood,
there are always influential figures,
all seek to influence Augie in some way.
Augie subsequently proves to be
highly susceptible to human influences.
Heraclitus’s Flux
a man can determine his character
as well as his fate, and that, like all things,
a man and his destiny are subject to change.
Augie, who exists in a constant state of flux,
hits a number of high and low notes along the way,
and his life is shaped by a variety of
human and environmental influences.
In the end, despite of the rapid succession of
experiences that he has undergone,
Augie remains Augie: his identity is a constant.
Quick Reference:
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459267/picaresque-novel
http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=119
http://www.definitions.net/definition/everyman
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-adventures-of-augie-march/study-guide/section8/
http://www.languageinindia.com/march2013/rajeswarifinal.pdf
http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/949
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