A Confused Explorer On The Spiritual Wasteland-Study Of Winesburg, Ohio From The Perspective Of Marxism

With the passage of time, Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson's magnum opus, has received more and more worldwide attenion from critics and commentators.It has served so long as an indispensable point of reference for one of the great transitions in the history of the United States.Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was paid tribute to as " America's most distinguished novelist " and " a mentor of William Faulkner and Thomas Wolfe".Anderson's personal experience can be regarded as the rags-to-riches formula. He was born into an impoverished family but he later became a man of means through sedulous efforts. After a nervous breakdown that has become legendary, Anderson resolved to begin to write, as he said, for the salvation of his soul.Based on his firsthand experiences, Anderson got a clear understanding of the corrosive effects of industrial capitalism on the human spirit so that he could penetrate into the essence beneath the surface of lives in his works.Winesburg, Ohio,which embraces 25 stories of independence in form whereas relatedness in content, is unified by a single setting, recurrent characters,and the pervasive mood. The whole book is a rare masterpiece that successfully mirrors the inner world of people in the transitional period when the United States evolved from an agrarian nation into an industrial society. Mood of alienation, loneliness, misunderstanding, dissatisfaction and disillusionment --- expressed in a colloquial and lyrical style --- permeate the lines of all the text.This thesis expatiates upon the underlying meaning of the text from the perspective of Maxist criticism. Those men who escape from the metropolitan areas of dehumanizing and oppresive industrialization flee to the small town but they're likewise disappointed because it is impossible to find pastoral harmony in the small town and village the tide of industrialization also engulfs. It seems that there is no spiritual paradise on the earthly world. Those ones who embrace the traditional values but can not be attuned to the money-worship materialism inevitably turn into the grotesques. This thesis presents the thoroughgoing interpretation of the text from the materialistic, puritanical and sexual respects through the lens of Maxism.Despite the booming industry and material prosperity, Anderson has probed into the spiritual frustration underneath and revealed that the world is disintegrating and fragmentary and people are estranged and despondent.Although Anderson shows compassion for the plight of women, he isn't a feminist; although he feels sympathy for the proletariat, he isn't a Maxist.He has an abhorrence of industrial capitalism but he couldn't find the correct way out. He attempts to save the soul of people but he is incapable. He insurmountably lapses into the predicament. He is only a confused explorer on the spiritual wasteland under the industrial capitalism albeit he is a penetrative and accomplished writer.In the tempestuous historical trend Winesburg, Ohio has a far-reaching significance and imperishably diffuses an aura of artistic glamour.