A Study Of Sherwood Anderson In The Perspective Of American Cultural Development

Anderson was famous for his short stories in the American literary world,among which the Winesburg,Ohio is one of the best,making him one of the most distinguished writers in American Literary history.Many scholars have always been concerned about the character image of abnormal humans in Anderson's works.They tried to explore the background and social reasons in it.In the specific researches,they paid more attention to the roles and character of Americans and the culture contained in it,but ignored the value of Anderson's novels from the perspective of American cultural development.The era of Anderson's life coincided with the transition period from American agricultural society to industrial society,and the writer's life and creation also experienced a process of development,which is also revealed in some of his works.Anderson is committed to digging deep into the plight and sufferings of personality encountered by people of United States during the social transformation.He argues that American culture has developed the status of "feminization" anxiety,precisely because the pace of industrial development has led to the gradual weakening of male power in the United States.Men were forced to become slaves of the machine,and standardized means of production deprived them of their creativity,which is the embodiment of the American cultural spiritual power.Therefore,it is necessary to revive the American personality force in order to counter the loss of American cultural power.This paper is divided into three parts:The first part explores the American towns in the context of American industrialization.First of all,the town is a concentrated expression of American culture,and it not only reflects the development of the entire American society,but also becomes an important window through which people have an easy access to understanding American culture and understand American society.The town provides a background where comprehensive understanding of the American human society and critical research into various social malpractice is available,Therefore,many writers created a unique "the small town literature." set in the town.The development of American's small town literature has gone through three stages.Through the development stage of small town literature and writers and works,we can try to have a better understanding of the development of American culture,thus becoming fully aware of the characteristics of cultural development in this period.Specifically,Analysis of the era of industrialization of the Winesburg Town in Anderson's The Winesburg,Ohio enables us to feel the changes of American town appearing in the period of social transformation,and understand the reasons for these changes.The second part analyzes the American culture under the vision of Anderson.By analyzing several works,we can see the spiritual dilemma of American culture during the period of social transition,symbolized in two aspects: the plight of production and creation and the plight of personality in cultural development.The dilemma of production is that traditional craftsmen lose their creativity and vitality in mechanized production.In literature,the writers' works are stuck in a dilemma.Literature has become a commodity in order to cater to consumers,and has lost its creative significance.When it comes to the United States personality performance,it is about the identity of the Americans and how to retrieve it,Anderson through the portrayal of the father put forward the problem haunting in the whole American society: as a craftsman his father as a result of industrial development can no longer support the family;and as a son the writer can not obtain his due mental and material satisfaction from his father,which leads to a sense of uneasiness and anxiety.The third part analyzes how Anderson tried to seek ways to restore American personality power from American culture.Anderson pays close attention to gender roles in American culture,and he believes that the various manifestations of society is a result of American culture "feminine" anxiety and the male's being deprived of the independence and male power in the industrialized society,accounting for the anxiety of males.The causes of these phenomena are closely related to the transformation of industrial society.Anderson tried to save the American personality power in two ways,"escaping" and "reconstruction".Escaping means rebirth,and he hopes to find a solution by looking for the source of American cultural development.Escaping means rebirth,and he hopes to find a solution by looking for the source of American cultural development.Anderson saw that the male power of African Americans was not influenced by the development of industrial society.They were optimistic,positive and full of wild power,which was lacked in the current social development,and that the original power of the black is the United States at the beginning of the development of a unique cultural spirit.Therefore,Anderson tried to use this primitive culture to solve the problems of society,the restoration of American personality.