Winesburg, Ohio

"Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson is like Joyce's "Dubliners" in many ways, but is also very different. While it does take place in the same town throughout the cycle as "Dubliners" does and has similar themes throughout, it has one identifying aspect that "Dubliners" does not have. In "Winesburg, Ohio" one of the unifying themes (besides small town life) is the character of George Willard. When we first meet him he seems like a nice enough fellow. He is talking to the town outcast Wing Biddlebaum about the man's sad story of how he was run out of his old town. George Willard is willing to listen to him, which is what he does for most of the book. 

People seem attracted to George Willard and eager to tell him their personal life stories. As a reporter for the Winesburg Eagle it is George's job to not only report the news of the town, but to record its history. These people tell George their personal stories that you do not think would be in a newspaper. For instance, Wash Williams tells George about how his wife was cheating on him and how he know despises women. This I would hope wouldn't make it into the Winesburg Eagle, but still these people will tell George anything. It would seem that they don't want their stories in the newspaper, but they want someone to be the keeper of their tales. They want their stories to live on through George Willard who they believe will live on beyond them and will move to bigger and better things elsewhere outside Winesburg.

All these people; Kate Swift, Was Williams, Wing Biddlebaum, Doctor Parcival, Mrs. Willard, Louise Trunnion view George Willard as this almost Godlike figure. I think Anderson did this on purpose. Willard, the young handsome writer ambitious writer, is obviously based on himself. He obviously wants this projection in the story to be someone better than all the other folk in Winesburg. Only one person sees George Willard for what he truly is. That person happens to be his so-called best friend, Seth Richmond. Seth doesn't think of George as this person so much better than everyone else. In fact, at times it seems he hates him. In "The Thinker" we are able to actually see the real George Willard through the eyes of Seth Richmond. He is a petty, materialistic guy. He knows his friend loves Helen White, but tells Seth to go and tell Helen that he is in love with her and to basically set it up for him. He tells Seth that he wants to know what its like to be in love for a book he's writing and figures Helen White is the person he could be in love with. That is such a slap in the face to Seth. He actually loves this girl while George just wants to use her so he can see what's it like to be in love for a book. He could have picked anyone, but he picks his best friend's love interest. 

Although there is technically only one story that "concerns George Willard" almost all of them contain his presence either in a large role or just in passing. At times I was angered by the ways Anderson used him in this way. Why not just write a novel about George Willard? It seems Anderson wanted to do that, but at the last moment just sort of wussied out and wrote a collection of short stories instead, but kept the George Willard references in. He could have done so many things with George Willard, but he just irregularly showed up. George could have been the raconteur of the town and had a set purpose like showing up to provide commentary of what is going on or symbolizing something. There was so much promise in his function, but I think by overutilizing George Willard, Sherwood Anderson underutilized his potential.

Beside George Willard, there was one minor theme that I found cropped up here and there throughout a lot of the stories that I don't think we ever covered in class. I found in several stories this theme of parents not just being afraid of their children, but in a way idolizing them. Seth Richmond's mother is said to have an "almost unhealthy respect for the youth" which kept her "for the most part silent in his presence." Even when he has done something wrong she "found herself unable to reprove him." She is scared of her own son. This is also the case with George Willard and his mother. She is obsessed with him. She will sneak into his room when he is gone and look through his things and pray to God that he becomes successful, but not too successful and even plans on killing her husband when he scolds George. Its a very unhealthy relationship not unlike Seth and Mrs. Richmond. The same goes for Belle Carpentar whose father "was afraid of his daughter." Even Tom Hard is pushed around by his very young daughter who forces him to start calling her Tandy after an old drunk told her that should be her name. These parents in Winesburg are just paralyzed with fear by their children and will do anything to keep them happy and in their good graces. Its sort of pathetic the way some of these parents act, letting their children boss them around. But, I guess thats just how they do it in Winesburg, Ohio.