Grotesques’ Living Predicament

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) is one of the pioneers in modern American literature. He is famous for his short stories, most notably the collection Winesburg, Ohio as his masterpiece. This novel is composed by twenty-five independent and inter-related stories, which depicts a picture of a group of grotesques in a small mid-western town during the period of industry revolution in the early twenties century. It attracts readers’attention by the vivid description and exploration of people’s existential conditions and psychological statements under the background of industrialization. Such a perspective is accidently according with the French existentialist Sartre’s existentialist ideas. He points out that human beings suffer the anguish of various kinds in a hell-like absurd world. However, their existentialist values can be achieved through free choices and actions. Similarly, in Winesburg, Ohio, Anderson not only pays attention to the anguish of people’s inner world after becoming grotesques in the industrial period, more importantly, but also their choices and pursuit for freedom, love and understanding. So I am going to analyze this novel from the perspective of existentialist theory especially that of Sartre’s.My thesis is made up of three parts. In the first part, a brief introduction is given to Sherwood Anderson, his Winesburg, Ohio and the theory of Sartre concerning absurd world, anguished life and free choices. In the second part, the main body is divided into three chapters. Chapter One probes into the absurd world in which different grotesques are shown in specific forms. Chapter Two pays attention to the anguished life of grotesques, which is revealed by people’s inability to express, the absence of love and the collapse of faith in private dreams and true lover. Chapter Three describes the freedom of grotesques’ making different choices, such as choices of living a single life, pursuing an ideal life and departure for a bright future with the aim of proving their existence as human beings. The last part will end in a conclusion. It summarizes the grotesques realizing their existence by making free choices when they are confronted with an existential dilemma. Meanwhile, this novel has practical significance for modern people, reflecting Anderson’s humanistic concern for people’s existential condition in difficulties.