Sophistication Summary

During Winesburg's fall county fair, many country people make the journey into town. George Willard is growing into manhood and about to leave Winesburg to get work on a city newspaper. When a boy is close to becoming a man, he necessarily backtracks. He ponders the future, where life will take him, limitations, ambitions and regrets. Sophistication brings with it melancholy. A boy knows that nothing in life is a sure thing. He sees the tenacity of life and wants bond with another.

George wants to see Helen White and show her what he has become. Helen is home from college and feeling the same way. One of her mother's guests is an instructor from the college, but he is not to Helen's tastes. She knows that attention will be aroused because he is sitting next to her in the grandstand, and she...