Together in Isolation

As we continue to read more and more short stories from Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, it seems clear that no matter the story, there is at least one character that faces isolation and/or loneliness.

Most people feel alone at certain points in their lives but constant loneliness is unhealthy and can lead to many of the behaviors seen exhibited by the characters in the town of Winesburg.  In Adventure, Alice engages in the defense mechanism denial as she waits for a man that she loves, Ned Currie, to return to Winesburg.  He of course never returns and she feels isolated and lonely.  Not only does the man she love find himself a new life without her, her mother finds a new husband after Alice’s father dies.  Alice even says that “‘I want to avoid being so much alone’” and she attempts to spend time with a drug clerk (118).  Between losing the man she loves, her father, and her mother to another man, Alice has no one close to her in her life to love her.  Alice’s isolation makes her so upset that she has a psychotic break and runs naked through the rain.  

In The Thinker, Seth Richmond feels isolated because he feels that he does not belong in the town.  Seth says that, “‘George belongs to this town’” and that “‘I don’t belong’” because George is outgoing and talkative(137).  Seth believes because he is not talkative, but rather a quiet “thinker” that he does not fit in.  He struggles to relate and interact with others in his small town which causes him to want to leave so he can escape the feeling of loneliness and isolation.

In Mother, Elizabeth Willard, the mother of George Willard becomes isolated and lonely.  Her husband sucks the vitality out of Elizabeth who is described as ghostly, and he takes control of everything Elizabeth has, including the hotel she owns that is named for her husband (the “New WIllard House”).  Elizabeth has nothing and she certainly has no loving husband.  She is extremely jealous of her husband’s relationship with her son and even wants to kill Tom.  This oedipal conflict in reverse (Elizabeth views Tom, her husband, as a revival that must be eliminated) leads to further loneliness as she feel distant from her son.  Eventually, however, Elizabeth lets go of her desires to keep her son for herself and tells George that ,“‘I think you had better go out among the boys’”(48).  Once Elizabeth gives up the struggle to keep her son, she truly has no one and is lonely and isolated from her family.

The theme of isolation and loneliness can be found in every short story we have read so far in Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.  Each of the main characters in each story have different personalities, family backgrounds, and lives, but all of them live together in isolation.