Isolation in Winesburg Ohio and Death in The Woods Essay -- Winesburg

Isolation in Winesburg Ohio and dying in The Woods In 1919, Sherwood Anderson composed his work Winesburg Ohio, which depicts the inner proceeds of small-town America. Andersons fascination to explore whats beneath the surface of sympathetic go aways results in another story in 1933 called Death In The Woods. These both deeds, incidentally, share a common theme of isolation. The characters in these works, are visualised as rattling(a)s or lot who live their lives by one truth, therefrom living a life of falsehood and isolation from the rest of the world. This study will examine the theme of isolation in the two works described, and will also relate it to Andersons idea of the grotesque. In Winesburg Ohio, the reader is first introduced to The Book of the Grotesque. This introductory chapter, provides the reader with what dexterity be considered a summary of the characters in the novel itself. The elderly source, who has apparently seen and experienced a lot o f the worlds turmoils, e.g. The Civil state of war , has been haunted by the faces of all the people he has ever known. The faces of these people are twisted and distorted, and ultimately appear grotesque to the elderly writer It was his notion that the moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a falsehood. (p.24). In relation to the theme of isolation in this novel, Anderson uses this chapter to bedeck how the characters in the town of Winesburg should be perceived. Characters that are grotesque because they live their lives by a single truth that prevents them from maturing, developing, and ultimately growing into what Anderson... ... world in which he lives. On this journey, he encounters many grotesques or distorted examples of human life, that enable George to break free from the isolation of Winesburg and venture out to live the life of what A nderson would consider to be normal. In Georges case, the isolation leads to creation, whereas in the townspeople, it leads to self-destruction. The story of Ghost In The Woods is in itself, a modified, shorter version of Winesburg due to its narrator, an introspective man, desolate and lonely who questions the meaning of his world. In conclusion, the two works examined in this essay provide concrete order in support of Andersons view on isolation and the grotesque. He uses his grotesques, who essentially are isolated, to enable his main characters to question the intend of life and examine the world beyond their immediate surroundings.