Augie Summary

The fourth frame of this short story depicts Artie running down the sidewalk, and his narration above reading: "I'd just spent the weekend with my girlfriend, Isabella. (My parents didn't like her.) I was late getting home." As I mentioned before, Artie probably stays at his girlfriend's house often because he does not want to be near his parents which explains why he was late. There is little if any connection between Artie and his parents, especially with his mother. He knows that he will never be his older brother Richieu and this disappoints his parents.

First, Janie, the main character, starts off living and being taken care of her grandmother, Nanny. She later grows up to become married, but their relationship is not genuine because her grandmother wanted her to marry the man. Janie meets a man called Joe Starks and they run off to a town called Eatonville where Joe becomes Mayor and blinded by his power. He becomes violent and domestically abuses Janie. Joe would be manipulative and isolate her from the rest of the town because she was "high-class." They live on to become older, and he eventually dies due to a sickness he needed to have checked two years earlier, but it was too late.

Townie, written by Andre Dubus III, is a memoir that portrays the detailed events, good or bad, of Andre Dubus III’s life as an adolescent until maturity. Dubus describes himself gaudily, explaining his battles as a boy growing up in the Boston area. Growing up without a cookie cutter father, Andre never had a strong and omniscient figure to help him throughout childhood. The only thing that became a common theme in his life was violence. Violence is present in his lifetime through many forms, starting as him getting beaten up by bullies and ending with him getting in fights as an adult with little to no motive. This continual violence brings out a fury and terror that Andre has to fight against his entire life. While he does eventually become content with his life without fighting, he initially has to fight through many obstructions to get to this point. These hindrances, though from an outsider’s perspective are tragic, shape him into the person he is today.

It does not take long to ascertain the striking resemblance between the two children in the novel. The novel opens with the birth of Dodie, the only son of one of the most successful white characters in the novel, Major Carteret. As the founder of “the Morning Chronicle…the leading organ of his party and the most influential paper in the State,” Major Carteret could easily be crowned the leader of the white community

As he grew up to become a writer, we see pain in the story he tells. “I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life” (pg.18). Alexie wanted to be someone greater than what others expected him to be. People would put him down constantly, but he fought back just as much. He tried to save himself from the stereotypes of being just another dumb Indian. He had more determination to prove others wrong when it came too exceeding in reading to further excel in his daily life.

The book is about Augusten going to live with the Finches. The father of the Finches was a doctor, and he had his own office in his house. Augusten’s mother couldn’t take care of him that well, so Dr. Finch adopted him. Growing up Augusten’s father was never really there for him, but he left Augusten and his mother. Augusten has a crazy life at the Finches from Dr. Finch having patients living in his house to Natalie becoming his best friend. In the end Augusten

Alexie remembers being poor, and living on “…a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear and government surplus food” (Alexie 583). His father “…went to Catholic school on purpose, was an avid reader” (Alexie 583) of various types of books. There were stacks of books throughout the house that his father had purchased from discount stores, mostly in bulk. This emphasizes that although they were poor, his father still valued reading.

The fact that Alexie does not mention the reservation John was born in, or even the hospital is vital in foring the reader to understand John’s lost of belonging. The generic descriptions make the reader curious and even angry that the exact details of John’s birth are unknown, which are the exact same feelings that John might possess. This helps the reader understand the disconnection that John has with his biological parents, and portrays the metaphorical hole John experiences.

He tells a story of his childhood and the story of learning to read and write as a Spokane Indian. His love for reading came from his father, initially, who also enjoyed reading. Alexie would take his father’s books and teach himself to read starting out with Superman comic books. Outside the Indian culture, Indians were expected to be unintelligent

Alexie's father was the reason he began to read which later became his passion. His father loved to read, and even though they did not have a ton of

The novel lacks a true portrayal of discrimination because in public, Auggie is allowed to do normal activities. According to the immigration act of 1882, those with mental or physical “defects”

Amory’s European heritage enhances his individuality, but also his isolation. His egotism, a result of the special education and spirit his mother instilled in him, proves to be the main theme of the book, much like it is the main theme of American life. He describes himself as a “boy marked for glory,” longing for material wealth, but his success becomes his goal. He sees himself as superior, and this causes much of his self-centeredness. He blatantly disregards his peers for not showing the same brand of otherness as he does, with the exception of a few such as Tom, Burne, and Dick.

Andie is a high school senior that has only a father because her mom abandoned them. Andie is a very talented girl because she makes her own designs of clothes. She has two friends whom she hangs around with, which is Duckie and Iona. Steff a rich boy confronts Andie as she is getting in her car trying to smooth

Andie is a middle class teenager who goes to high school in the "rich" part of town, full of wealthy kids. Her best friend is Ducky (who is desperately in love with her). Andie lives with her unemployed father (her mother left the family when she was young) whom she is constantly pursuing to find employment. Andie works in a record store with a bizarre woman, who is also a surrogate mother to Andie. Soon Andie finds herself on the receiving end of affection from a rich kid named Blaine. Andie also has eyes for him and, despite her feelings that rich and poor kids have no place together in this world, accepts an invitation for a date from him. Their date ends up at the house of Blaine's best friend Steff, who is throwing a

When the boy's parents had finally come to watch their sons do what they had been passionate about for the whole summer of 1972, Petey feels this immense amount of joy because of how he thinks the parents might know him a bit more. Petey feels as if his parents ignore him and do not pay attention to his daily personal desires because they themselves are too busy focusing on their jobs and their personal desires.