Augie March, A Defender Of Individuality

In his novel The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow creates an anti-hero Augie March who tries desperately to seek his better fate and defend his individuality. This thesis aims to analyze why and how Augie makes great efforts to defend his individuality and the causes of his temporary failure in his endeavor. The thesis is composed of five parts.The first part "Introduction" makes a belief introduction of Saul Bellow's literary career and his relation with the American individualistic tradition, as well as the recent study on his novel The Adventures of Augie March.The first chapter "Escape as a Passive Defense of Individuality" will analyze the causes and passivity of his evading act. Faced with the control of the Machiavellians, Augie chooses to escape because of his dream of a fate good enough and his nature of opposition, as well as his awareness of the decadence in the life of those Machiavellians. Escape does enable him to maintain his individuality, but, in my view, it is a passive way. On the one hand, Augie has no idea as to where he should go and what he really wants. On the other hand, escape will only lead him to isolation and nihility.The second chapter "Seeking Identity as an Active Defense of Individuality" explores Augie's identity crisis, his efforts in searching for identity and the positive effect of his endeavor in this regard. In his childhood, Augie was faced with the identity crisis, i.e. "who I am, and what I want". In his adventures, Augie gets to know more about himself, and finally finds the "axial lines of life" and his ideal of starting a foster-school. With the awareness of his identity, Augie begin to defend his individuality in an active way. Firstly, his "axial lines of life" provides a center that he can go around with; secondly, his dream gives him a sense of purpose, which makes him less influenced by those Machiavellians; thirdly, the knowledge of his relation with people around him prevents him from going to isolation and nihility.The third Chapter "Keeping on Defending Individuality after Failure" analyzes Augie's failure and its causes, as well as his resolution to keep on defending his individuality in the future. At the end of novel, Augie's efforts to defend his individuality turn out to be a failure. His failure is partially due to the overwhelming social forces, and partially to his character flaws. However, Augie has not been defeated by the temporary failure. After taking so many adventures, he becomes more mature, optimistic and hopeful. With dream and love, he is resolved to go on searching for his "better fate".The last part "Conclusion" explores the relation of this novel with Bellow's other works and its realistic significance. First, Augie's plight is also felt by people today. It drives people to think about how we should live in today's world. Second, Augie's searching for his selfhood is painstaking but worthwhile, which enlightens us that only by knowing yourself can you be yourself. Third, Augie's endeavor to seek his special fate, though temporarily failed, is still encouraging. In a word, this novel has actually shown us how one should live in the modern world.