The Human Comedy is a novel by William Saroyan.

Background

Homer Macauley is a 14 year-old boy growing up fatherless in the San Joaquin Valley of California during World War II. His oldest brother Marcus, is off fighting the war, and Homer feels he needs to be the man of the family. To make money, he takes an evening job as a telegraph boy: sometimes he has to deliver the news to a family that a son has died in the War. Yet Homer also keeps up his normal life, going to school, to church, and to the movies. He is buoyed by his home and his loving family, including a very young brother and a mother who plays the harp. His roots and an almost instinctive sense of right and wrong keep him honest and hopeful. The novel was written to give hope during World War II.

Themes and setting

The story of The Human Comedy, and the characters Homer and Ulysses in particular, is based on Saroyan's life, living fatherless with his siblings and his mother. Ithaca, California is based on real town of Fresno, Saroyan's home-town.

The book also has several references to Homer's Odyssey. Homer is both the name of the author of the Odyssey and the main character in this novel. Homer's young brother's name, Ulysses, is the Roman form of the name Odysseus, the Odyssey's protagonist. The theme of both of the books is going home. Ithaca is both Homer's and Ulysses' home-town in the novel and Odysseus' home-island in the Odyssey. Helen Eliot, referring to Helen of Troy, is used as the girl that Homer is in love with.

Characters

Main characters

• Homer Macauley – The main protagonist, Homer is a fourteen year old telegraph messenger living in the fictional town of Ithaca, California.

• Katie Macauley – Homer's mother

• Bess Macauley – Homer's elder sister

• Ulysses Macauley – Homer's 4-year old brother

• Mr. Grogan – the operator of Ithaca's telegraph station

• Mr. Spangler – the owner of Ithaca's telegraph station

Minor characters

• Miss Hicks – Caroline Clary

• Hubert Ackley III Logan Guillory

• Auggie Gottlieb – a newspaper boy and the leader of a neighborhood gang of young boys

• Matthew Macauley – Homer's deceased father

• Marcus Macauley – Homer's elder brother, enrolled in the Army

• Mr. Ara – the town's grocer

Adaptations

Film

Television

The book was adapted by S Lee Pogostin for television in 1959 with narration by Burgess Meredith. The television adaption starred Michael J. Pollard.

Theatrical musical

The Human Comedy was also adapted into a 1984 Broadway musical by Galt MacDermot, composer of the musical Hair, and William Dumaresq. It starred Stephen Geoffreys, Rex Smith, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. The musical was well received off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theater and transferred to Broadway's Royale Theater. The show ran for 20 previews and 13 regular performances, closing on April 15, 1984 after failing to find a new audience. The story was musicalized as a folk opera, with the band performing onstage with the cast. A complete recording of the show was made, but not released until 1997. The musical was revived in 2006 by the Barrington Stage Company, and starred Debby Boone

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