The Adventures of Augie March is told entirely by the narrator and chief character, Augie March. He begins as a pre-teen living in a tough Chicago neighborhood after World War I. The Great Depression lies years ahead, but the March family is already on relief. They live in ethnic enclaves, so the idioms of the cultures, mannerisms, and thought patterns are reflected. Russian-Jewish is particularly strong, as the non-related Grandma in Augie's household is an intellectual from Odessa, who sprinkles Russian and Yiddish words into conversations.