The secret diary of adrian mole aged 13 3/4 by sue townsend plot summary, characterization, themes, author

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

Author: Sue Townsend

Published: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1983

Setting: from Thursday January 1st to Saturday April 3rd (Two years later)

Plot Summary

Adrian is an acne plagued thirteen-year-old teenager who reports his thoughts and experiences in his secret diary every day. He finds himself confronted with all sorts of problems, worries about his father who works all day and is a heavy smoker and drinker, about his dog that runs away and regularly has to be taken to the vets, about his health (he's a hypochondriac), about his spots and lots of other things. Adrian's parents split up because his mother has fallen in love with the neighbor, Mr. Lucas (nickname: "Lucas Creep"). He also struggles not to be blackmailed and brutalized by a fellow pupil, Barry Kent. The naïve schoolboy injects the diary from time to time with humorous details. Adrian soon falls in love with Pandora (nickname: "Box"), who belongs to a higher social class.

English: The house where Margaret Thatcher was bor...

ADRIAN DAVIS

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾

While he tries to gain the girl's admiration, his father becomes infatuated with Doreen Slater (nickname: "Stick Insect"), who's child, Maxwell, Adrian often has to look after and his mother has gone to live in Sheffield with Mr. Lucas. Moreover his father is made redundant as an electric radiator salesman, which results in serious financial problems. Whenever the problems get too bad Adrian goes to his grandmother who comforts him by preparing him a good meal and by squeezing his spots. Adrian and his father even move in with her for a while when Mr. Mole is not able to pay the electricity bill. The snobby boy joins a samaritan organization where he has to look after an old, dirty man, Bert Bexter. Bert's dog is called Sabre and in the beginning Adrian fears the...