Characteristics of Life in Winesburg, Ohio

Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio deals with the understanding of human nature and its faults. In each short story the character is increasingly oppressed by his inability to express himself to those in his society. They are all desperately trying to make contact with someone outside themselves and in attempting to do so gain a greater understanding of themselves. The opening chapter “The Book of the Grotesque,” explains how each character in Winesburg lives by one or more truths, escaping from reality in these truths. The stories are unified by the symbolic use of hands. In each story when the character reaches a point of immense frustration due to the fact that they will never be able to convey his truth to another, he throws up his hands in frustration and inevitably has a moment of pure uncontrolled passion.

Anderson threads together the stories with the unifying element of hands. The first story of the novel is titled “Hands.” In this story a middle-aged man named Wing Biddlebaum is a school teacher to young boys. In order to convey his passion for the subjects he obliviously caresses their heads and shoulders. Wing uses his hands to express his enthusiasm for teaching.

References to the hands of the main characters of the stories are made throughout the novel. In the next story, “Paper Pills,” the doctor’s knuckles are described as being “…extraordinarily large. When the hands were closed they looked like clusters of unpainted wooden balls as large as walnuts fastened together by steel rods” (Anderson 35). Yet another reference is made to hands in “The Philosopher.” Tom Willy’s hands were said to have, “That flaming kind of birthmark that sometimes paints with red the faces of men and women had touched with red Tom Willy’s fingers and the backs of his hands” (Anderson 49). In “Respectability,” the only clean thing about Wash Williams is his hands. He is otherwise a grotesque, filthy man. The hands that are described as “sensitive and shapely” in no way describe the man. In each of these stories the symbolic nature of hands is used as a focal point for the story. The characters are known for their hands, it is that which sets them apart from the others in the town.

Though the novel is a collection of multiple short stories with new characters in each story, there are but two that stand out as being vivid, dynamic characters, and one that is repeated throughout many of the stories and is thought to be the main character.

The most interesting, captivating character of the novel is Jesse Bentley. His dynamic character exhibits multiple qualities. In the beginning of the chapter “Godliness,” Jesse is described as feminine in appearance, and said to be weak of nature. This generalization is soon shattered when it is evident that he has the constitution of an ox and the will-power of a tyrant. His personal drive and perseverance is outstanding, and noted by all of the town. With old age he becomes senile and slightly crazy. It is his fervent hope to be blessed by God and in some way to be the creator of a new race sprung from himself.

Another dynamic character is that of Elizabeth Willard. As a young girl she is vivid and passionate. She is willful, with dreams of her own and a plan to escape from the mundane rituals of her life into the world of a traveling troupe. She is transformed into a weary, drab woman. Her presence stifles the life out of the household. She is extremely insightful, finding words between herself and he son to be superfluous. They have an understanding of one another not exhibited in any other characters of the novel. Elizabeth does not feel the need to confide in her son, and does not feel isolated and misunderstood as does the rest of the characters.

Her son, George Willard, is the main character of the novel, providing each of the townspeople a chance to divulge their innermost thoughts. George is young and intelligent, and provides great insight into the lives of his fellow townsmen. He is a representation of all of the townspeople in his passion for Helen White, and his need to escape his life to become something that he cannot be while in Winesburg. His growth into manhood represents the growth attained by the townspeople due to the truths that they live