Victims Of Environment And Personality

Sherwood Anderson was one of the original and influential American writers in 20th century. His masterpiece Winesburg, Ohio consists of 25 separate but inter-related stories with seemingly loose pattern—it has unified themes and a central protagonist, George Willard, throughout the whole book. Set in the background of industrial development in 20th century, Winesburg, Ohio successfully portrays a group of lost grotesque people in American Western Rural village, who at the same time have dim prospect with them.As a classic work of American modern literature, Winesburg, Ohio is always the object of study and criticism of scholars and critics. Many have studied it from aspects of its artistic features from the perspectives of autobiography, expressionism and feminism. In this paper, the author uses Freud's psychoanalytical theories to study the grotesque characters' grotesqueness and beautiful sides and further investigates the causes of the grotesque. The paper develops in the following main parts on the basis of textual analysis of the grotesque characters.First, it categorizes the grotesque characters into different groups according to their various external behaviors: silent, talkative, queer and perplexed grotesque youth; uncontrollable desires beneath their fanatical love of religion, lack of love and longing for love and their inability to express ideas or mother love and so forth. The author tries to study them as a whole by use of Freud's psychoanalytical theories when necessary in this part, for example Freud's theories of unconscious and libido.Second, the author tries to explore the underlying causes of their grotesqueness from extrinsic and intrinsic aspects. Social environment and loss of feminine love are the two major extrinsic reasons and personality weakness of individual is the intrinsic cause that leads to their grotesque behaviors.Finally, the paper studies the bright sides of the grotesque characters which are easily ignored because of their apparent grotesqueness. Although defined as grotesque, their grotesqueness is not incurable but actually spiritual twist in semi-consciousness and they have their bright or lovely sides. They have longing for understanding and love all through their life, they have moments of epiphany or insights and they live with hope and have their hope on some youth who have awakening consciousness. All the three aspects mentioned in this part provide possibilities of their way out.The paper is aimed to study the grotesque characters in Winesburg, Ohio with Freud's psychoanalytical theories and textual analysis. The author of the paper observes that only through mutual compassion, understanding and love can the grotesque characters renew their life.