158 Anderson, Sherwood
dominated by one idea become grotesque, even if
that one idea is true. The stories, each focusing on
a particular resident, comprise a mini-population or
representation of the town itself.
Because Winesburg, Ohio, is of the genre of a
short-story cycle, the stories within it are bound
to each other by many similarities, repetitions, and
links. One link is the presence of writers among the
characters. “The Book of the Grotesque” relates the
dream an old writer had about the transformation of
truths and people into grotesques. George Willard, a
young man who figures in many of the stories, wants
to be a writer.
Other realizations by the characters include
repeated instances of women being disappointed
by men, by sex and sexuality, by romantic rela-
tionships, and by marriage. These women include
George’s mother as well as Louise Bentley. However,
two female characters without a male partner, Lou-
ise Trunnion and Kate Swift, are also disappointed.
Finally, many male characters also express disap-
pointment about their relationships with women.
In a few instances, male and female characters
achieve temporary communication: George’s mother
with her male doctor; George with Helen Foster, the
girl he loves. However, George’s mother fails to
communicate her dying wish to George—that he
make use of money she has hidden in the plaster
wall at the foot of her bed—and Helen White fails
to say goodbye to George at the railway station.
Natalie Tarenko
cOminG OF aGe in Winesburg, Ohio
In the next-to-last story in Winesburg, Ohio, coming
of age is defined as “Sophistication,” in the story of
that title. Within “Sophistication,” coming of age
is further defined and refined as a young person’s
epiphany or realization about the nature of time and
self. Time, which brought the young person to this
realization, will continue to pass, like leaves blown
by the wind or like corn that will be cut down. So,
also, will the life of the young person someday end;
and so, too, have the lives ended of all the people
who have ever lived.
Specifically, the young person is George Willard.
Winesburg, Ohio, largely tells the circumstances that
brought George to this state of “sophistication.” In
many of Winesburg’s stories, other characters think
back to their own epiphanies or realizations; usually,
they feel compelled to tell George about it. Some
characters try to wake him up: his father; Tom Fos-
ter; and his former teacher, Kate Swift. Each intends
to wake George up to a different reality: his father to
the sharpness required of a successful businessman,
Kate Swift to a writer’s use of words. In addition,
George’s mother seeks to save him from her own
fate: not to be a failure by killing or allowing one’s
youthful dreams to be killed.
George dreams of being a writer and often
boasts about how easy a life it will be. George’s
naïveté is dangerous in that the narrative shows that
words can be empty. One character who never has a
coming of age, who never grows up, is Enoch Rob-
inson (“Loneliness”). Even though old, he is child-
like in preferring his made-up people to real ones,
such as his wife and children, whom he had earlier
abandoned. The danger of becoming mesmerized
by one’s own words and ideas is underlined by the
parallels between Enoch, who talks to himself, and
George, who also often talks to himself and imag-
ines himself in grandiose situations.
George Willard is not the only character who
gropes toward adulthood. Tom Foster also tries to
learn things from and about life, which is another
description of coming of age. Tom has fewer mate-
rial resources than George, who has a satisfying job
on the town newspaper and his father’s sometimes
meddlesome conniving to help him. Tom sets out
to get drunk, just once, so as to feel pain and grow
from it; his language expands, and he is quite poetic
in the metaphors he creates about Helen White,
whom many of the young male characters love.
In the last story of the book, “Departure,”
George succeeds in leaving Winesburg; getting away
from his hometown is another aspect of coming of
age. Other young characters, such as Seth Rich-
mond, also express interest in leaving town, possibly
symbolizing leaving their childhood.
Natalie TarenkoFamily in Winesburg, Ohio
In many of the stories in Winesburg, Ohio, an
unhappy family can be the unfortunate result of the
misunderstandings of coming of age. Women, in