Summary:
Reviews Winesburg, Ohio, the collection of short stories by Sherwood Anderson.
In Winesburg, Ohio, 1992, there is a reporter for the Winesburg Eagle, who is connected to all the stories, named George Willard. Winesburg is a small town where everyone knows one other. Which is good in some cases and bad in others, like know who exactly would be able to steal and would and getting lonely and not having any one to talk to if something said badly about gets around town. In the story of "Mother" George has a hard relationship with his mother, since his mother is ill and dormant. "Nobody knows" shows that even a small-town like Winesburg has secrets that if someone told they would gain a bad reputation. Many people have wants that they cannot help to want, which is greatly showed in the story called, "The Strength of God." "Death," tells about George's mother, Elizabeth Willard, how she is sick and did not want to marry Tom, but only for the sake of being married. George is reunited with Helen, who went off to college and came back to visit, in "Sophistication." These are stories that happen to everyone and it does not matter where you live.
George has a bizarre relationship with his mother, since she is in poor health. They would make time to see each other but no words were spoken. Children and parents do not always understand each other, but they have love for one another. Elizabeth and George are examples of this by wanting to spend time together, but not knowing what to say, being scared to talk about the wrong thing or at the wrong time. Elizabeth notices that she has not seen George in several days and goes to see him. Which would be common now, because of divorces are so high. She sees that Tom is talking to him and lecturing him to make something of him self. Mothers feel that they should always be there to help their child through everything that she can, or more so then the fathers. She becomes infuriated and decides to kill Tom. Since George's mother is dormant, she has a lot of time to think about her ruined marriage of hers, and plans to kill Tom. George decides to leave Winesburg, after talking to his father and tells his mother. Fathers are the head of the family, and with most families 'whatever the head of the family says, goes.'
Small towns have a lot of gossip, which is like high school. George decides that he wants to have sex with a girl named Louise. Being a young male adult he feels pleased with what he did, but the embarrassment of thinking that people will find out and talks about it, gets to him. "She hasn't got anything on me. Nobody knows." (62) He tells himself. In schools people talk about it as if they have done it think its what everyone is doing and think it is cool, but the ones who have are the ones that do not tell, they feel the embarrassment part of it and do not want to be the talk of the school. To tell one person in a high school or small town is telling the whole thing without knowing.
Reverend Curtis Hartman of Winesburg became very focused on Kate Swift, a local schoolteacher, even though he had a wife, a church, and God. This shows that people want what they cannot have. The Reverend would spend time in the bell tower preparing the sermons for next few days, but one day he notices Kate reading in her bed through a window and watches her. This distracts him from his work, and takes up most of his time, leaving him to whim the sermon from the top of his head. Even the people who we like to think are prefect are not, everyone is human. He hopes that his voice will carry over to her and awaken her soul of secret sins. Although, he knows that he is not supposed to look at her and watch her, it makes him happier at home and at work. "I am God's child and he must save me from myself." (152) He began to think that he should get out of ministry, since he had the constant thought of kissing her shoulders and neck. He waited for her and she came by throwing her naked self upon the bed, crying. This shocked the Reverend and he left the church, making a loud sound and scaring her. He went outside and found himself at the Winesburg Eagle talking to George, saying "The strength of God was in me and I broke it with my fist." (156)
Elizabeth, George's mother dies in "Death." For the last year of her life she goes and sees Doctor Reefy, him for her health, but she feels the visits with him are enjoyable because of their conversations. These brightened her days and she looked forward to them, each day she grew younger and more open towards the doctor. As she left she would become herself again and begin to weep once she reached her room or a hotel room, of an old hotel that her husband owned. The talks with the doctor were going along very well, even well enough for the doctor to feel connected to her and start to love her. He began to kiss her passionately while she was telling a story. "You dear! You lovely dear! Oh you lovely dear!" (227) He said to her to comfort her, but not listening to a word she said. Soon she died, when George turned eighteen previously in the year.
George felt a sense of maturity after his mothers' death. He knows that it is time to get out of this town and make his dreams come true. He wants to move to city and work on the newspapers there. Now that he has lost his mother he wants someone there to hold him and be there for him like a mother but not, just to understand and be gentle. He thought of Helen, the banker's daughter, as she thought of him. Helen grew tired of the professor and ran away, soon George found her and they went for walk. They talked a little and went to the fair grounds of earlier that day, but just spending time together was enough for them to see what they wanted out of life. "For some reason they could not have explained," Anderson writes, "they had both got from their silent evening together the thing needed." (243)
George goes through many things that happen in life, such as dealing with a parent, hiding secrets from the world, being there for a friend when they are in need, the death of a parent, and growing up to adult by himself.
This is the complete article, containing 1,133 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
