Even though Schulberg's college training was in the field of sociology, he is obviously a student of literature.

In What Makes Sammy Run? the metaphor of running — evident in the title itself — controls the entire novel. Generally episodic in development, the novel is of a picaresque hero who has many of the qualities of that conventional type of protagonist. Sammy steps on others and thinks nothing of putting himself in their shoes, but not out of empathy. Rather he is the picaresque heel who, as he encounters others, uses them to advance himself. If they end up getting in his way, he moves them aside. He is on the run and no member of the human race will deter him in his pursuit of success.

Throughout the book, the reader knows of Sammy's advances by the shoes he wears. They are the symbol of each episodic...