human comedy Essay

Submitted By garrison-herfel
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Garrison Herfel
The Human Comedy Frank B. Kellogg, an American lawyer that served in the US senate, tells us that "It is not to be expected that human nature will change in a day." In William Sororian's novel, the Human Comedy, he portrays the true natrure of human kind in Ithaca California during World War Two. The very nature of man is revealed through his actions and behaviors. Mr.Spangler, the manager of the telegraph office, strives to take away the pain of the people in Ithica. Mr.Grogan, the old morose alchoholic who works at the telegraph office, does not notice the pain of the people around him, he only notices it in himself. Mr. Byfield, the vengeful gym teacher, only creates more pain for Homer and the other poeple of Ithaca. The characters of Mr.Spangler, Mr.Grogan, and Mr. Byfield reveal the true nature of humans while they demonstrate that, “People are people.” (Saroyian 18) Mr.Spangler, a jubilant man who enjoys his job as office manager, takes away the pain and the suffering from the world. He gives Homer, the diligent, hardworking, teenage boy who lives and goes to school in Ithaca, a job working for him in the telegraph office because he "comes from a good, poor family on Santa Clara Avenue. No father. Brother in the army. Mother works in the packinghouses in the summer." (Saroyian 19) Mr.Spangler knows that Homer is underage to be a messenger, but he takes some of the pain away from Homer's famnily by giving Homer a job and supplying him with a paycheck. When Mr.Spangler is racing to deliver the telegrams first, he stops and takes his time to tell a girl on the street corner that she "[is] the lovliest woman in the world." (Saroyian 78). Even though Mr.Spangler is in such a hurry, he still takes the time out of the busy day to stop and kiss the girl on the cheek because she seems lonely and isolated from the world. When he sees Auggie, a young newspaper boy, standing on the street corner Mr.Spangler buys all of Auggie's papers so he could "go home now." (Saroyian 154). Mr.Spangler is a kind hearted man and he takes the pain out of young Auggies day by letting him go home and enjoy his saturday, while still making the seventy five cents he needs. Mr.Spangler demonstrates that some people in this world are truley good by taking away the pain and suffering from everyone he meets. Mr.Grogan, the doleful overage telegraph operater, is a foolish man; he does not notice the pain in the world, he only notices it in himself. He "counts on [Homer] to see that [he] shall be able to preform his duties." (Saroyian 20). This tells us that Mr.Grogan is an alchoholic, he drinks to the point where he relies comletley on other people like Homer in order to do his job. After recieving a telegram announcing the death of Mrs. Rosa Sandoval's son, Juan Domingo Sandoval, Mr.Grogan "handed the message to Homer and took a long drink from the bottle he kept in the drawer beside his chair." (Saroyian 21). Mr.Grogan does not see the pain of the outside world, he drinks in order to stay away from the evil truths that come through the telegraph machine. He "woudn't know what to do with [himself] if he didn't have [his] job." Mr.Grogan notices the pain he has of being replaced by machines, but little does he care what is the best thing for society
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