The Human Comedy Study Guide & Plot Synopsis

The Human Comedy Plot Summary

Preview of 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...
(read more)