Lonely Struggle And Anxious Pursuance

Sherwood Anderson is often regarded as the representative of 20th century realist writer. But his novels are often neglected in American literature. His novels are often focused on reality; however, on a deep level, he is more concerned about people's soul. This focus is reflected in the novel 'Winesburg, Ohio'. 'Winesburg, Ohio'is representative of his novels, and it is this novel that set him as a well-known writer in history of American literature. The novel is composed of twenty-five stories, which are separated from each other but are inherently interrelated. In the structure, the character George Willard is the one that links the story together. The writer is completing the redemption of himself through the exploration of the abnormal people in Winesburg, Ohio. 1. The thirst under the surface of life Ever since the first group of immigrants landed on the American continent in the 17th century, the New World had been covered with a lasting theme: 'American dream', which had accompanied the 200 years of American works. 'American dream'is an American spirit that pursues freedom. A history of American literature is a history of American dream, and it is also a history of generations of American writhers'seeking for dreams. On Winesburg town, the people in Sherwood Anderson's works were also people who wanted their dreams to come true. Wing Biddlebaum in the story 'Hand'was known for his strange hands. When he was young, he was a teacher in Pennsylvania. He once wanted to lead the children to looking for a dream-like place by using his strange hands. Besides Wing Biddlebaum, there were many other people who lived in the town in reality, but their mind wandered far away from the town. The novel was full of various dreams by the people: Tom Willand and Jow Welling's positive dreams; Jesse Bertley's pious dream to restore the absolute authority of God; Wash Williams's passion to pursue love and marriage; Elizabeth Willard who was pursuing her dream for the whole life; Louise Hardy who was looking for a life full of warmth and love; Alice Hindman who was pursuing a dream for love. The dream behind the peoples'seeking for dreams was that: trying for something to escape out of old minds, old thoughts, put into my head by others, into may own thoughts, may own feelings. Thus for what he had been attempting was very much in keeping with the sprit of the Chicago Liberation, to look into his own heart and to understanding others through himself. 2. Escaping to the isolated Winesburg after dreams were shattered Many comments on Anderson emphasized the solitude of characters in his works. Those souls were not destroyed by 'management'or 'machines'; those rare people holding dreams were lonely. The town was the shelter from solitude. The people in the town after failing to put their dreams into reality all escaped to the home of solitude. (1) The evicted silent man, smiling transparent man The strange people in the town not only isolated from each other, they also were indifferent to themselves. Biddlebaum's dream to express love through his hands was stopped by the indifferent people. When he was evicted from the town, he chose the way of solitude. Doctor Reefy was perplexed by the dream he was seeking, he chose solitude; the shadow man who had remarkable idea, but remained in the state of illusion about understanding and love. (2) The beautiful flower in the town: undefeatable women In Anderson's works, women had the quality of pursuing harmonious relation of love, of people, of the relation between people and nature. InWinesburg, the most touching scene was a description of the undefeatable women. They were pursuing love, pursuing to be loved and hoped to love others. But people around them could not understand their pursuit, and they could not meet their needs. Hence, they could only resort to their lonely souls. And it was the pursuit of love that finally helped the people in Winesburg to find a way out of solitary life. (3) Pastoral song destroyed by machinery Winesburg was the town that typically reflected the transition from agricultural to industrialized era. Facing the cultural and psychological breakup, the people's consciousness was still pertaining to the pastoral natural economic era. They lost directions and they lost themselves. What they could do was to seeking for home in the desolate dessert of souls. Cowley and his son who came to town from village had the psychological imbalance. Jesse Bentley also changed his conviction under the impact of industrialization. (4) Jesus Christ who was crucified Every person had the freedom to realize his own personality. In the deeper side of his soul, he had the potential to be a wise man. But living in the world, the basic conviction that human beings were human beings was often squeezed by external factors. Curtis Hartman dropped into deeper loneliness after the struggle to yield to the call of humanity. Doctor Parcival's solitude also derived from the external pressure on free humanity. In this way, human beings are becoming crucified Christians. (5) Desperation after the dream fell through Wash Williams was lonely after his marriage failed. He was desperate toward woman and love, and the way of his loneliness was hate. Enoch Robinson was dropped to solitude after his illusion shattered. The abnormal people in the town were passionate toward life but the reality forced them to be desperate after their dreams were shattered. In Winesburg, the abnormal people dropped themselves in a world ofsolitude. There were no other choices and this was the conclusion they drawn from life experience. At the same time, they were people who held dreams, who wanted to pursuit such spiritual thing as love and understanding. Though their dreams sounded na?ve, though their dreams were shattered eventually, their persistence was moving. 3. Pursuit of hopes and redemption of souls (1) Love and understanding: the hopeful pursuit After disposing the solitude of the abnormal people in the town, Sherwood Anderson did not abandon these lonely souls. He pointed a way out for them: seeking love and understanding. In the story 'The Untold Lie', Hal Winters bravely took the responsibility of love and marriage. Anderson gave his the courage, which was the first step toward escaping from solitude and from the fate of abnormal people. In the story 'Tandy', through the remarks of the 'stranger', Anderson pointer out a goal for pursuit: love and understanding. George Willard was the character that appeared in each story in the book, and linked the stories together. Another character, Elizabeth Willard, linked the theme together: seeking for love. Elizabeth Willard was the core of the theme of seeking for love. In confiding to doctor Reefy, the two lonely souls understood each other and attracted each other. On the basis of harmany of souls, they fell into the pure spiritual love. This love was the unique truth for the abnormal people to rebirth. The theme of 'pursuing dreams and the solitude after the dreams shattered'was a theme that writers of different ages centered upon in American literary history. The representative of writers after the First World War was Earnest Hemingway, who was termed as member of the 'Lost Generation'. The tendency of their writing was to describe the desperation, darkness, depression, suffocation and lost of direction. However, just as what...