The Human Comedy Summary
William Saroyan

The Human Comedy Summary

This novel, set in a small American town during World War II, is a coming of age story anchored by the experiences of Homer Macauley, a teenage telegraph messenger who discovers truths about human experience in general and about himself in particular while delivering telegrams, many of which report on the deaths of loved ones. Episodic and poetic, with an emphasis on creating a portrait rather than developing a plot, The Human Comedy explores themes relating to the existential, essential loneliness of human existence and the different ways human beings strive and struggle to keep that loneliness at bay.

The novel begins with a simple experience of joy: on a warm, bright afternoon, Ulysses Macauley, younger brother of the novel's protagonist, enjoys experiences of animals in his back yard, a friendly man on a train, and his mother's company. Soon afterwards, however, his older brother Homer, on one... View more of the The Human Comedy Summary