The Strength of God

            Winesburg, Ohio highlights the role of religion and God throughout the novel. The most prominent example of the role of religion is in the chapter the ‘Strength of God’. This story details the role of religion and how truth are both affected and necessarily intertwined with one another. The nature of Anderson’s criticism relies on the idea of God as a monolithic entity and whether that notion of an absolute truth. Anderson uses Reverend Curtis Hartman to highlight how an individual would be affected by the omnipresence of God. Anderson also uses irony and contrast to show the effects of a Godly truth on individuals and how they can ultimately be negatively affected by society even though they retain a religious base. This is explicitly shown by Reverend Hartman’s internal struggle with Kate Swift.

            Anderson creates a binary and interesting dichotomy between the religious and non-religious nature of human culture. In the begging of the chapter, when describing the ultra-religious Reverend Hartman, Anderson describes him as “He was forty years old, and by his nature very silent and reticent. To preach, standing in the pulpit before the people, was always a hardship for him and from Wednesday morning until Saturday evening he thought of nothing but the two sermons that must be preached on Sunday” (Anderson, 110). Anderson creates this binary as a mutually exclusive system in which  here must necessarily be a trade-off between religion and non-religion. First Anderson claims “In reality he was much in earnest and sometimes suffered prolonged periods of remorse because he could not go crying the word of God in the highways and byways of the town” (Anderson, 113) This depiction of Reverend Hartman as entirely religious creates a stark contrast to the description given later in the novel. The description that is eventually given contradicts the idea created in the beginning. This shift is to a corrupted view of religion and a focus on unholy activities such as peeping on Kate swift. The negative affects are shown when Reverend Hartman eventually smashes a window but surprisingly remains somewhat resolved, Anderson writes, “ Reverend Curtis Hartman turned and ran out of the office. At the door he stopped, and after looking up and down the deserted street, turned again to George Willard. “I am delivered. Have no fear.” He held up a bleeding fist for the young man to see. “I smashed the glass of the window,” he cried. “Now it will have to be wholly replaced. The strength of God was in me and I broke it with my fist” (Anderson, 115). The resolve that Hartman has shows how the idea of God as a monolithic truth has finally been broken down and Hartman has embraced the idea of other possibilities surrounding religion. Specifically, his smashing of the glass shows that he has metaphorically smashed the idol on his inside. This idol held God on a pedestal and created an internal hierarchy where God and religion were absolute truths. This plays into the notion of grotesqueness and maintaining truth that is unflinching. In this sense, Reverend Hartman is one of the few characters to break the mold and embrace a new ideology and idea of truth.

Ballad of Birmingham - Dudley Randall

The 1960 were a struggle for civil rights and establishment of equality for all races. Led by influential activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. This piece of marvelously crafted poetic beauty was written in response to a real event, the bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombing was in response to the increasingly violent nature of these demonstrations. In a time when many advocated for a peaceful solution to these injustices, police brutality and racism sought to expand white domination otherwise. This poem details the social struggles of the individuals who have been oppressed by the institutions and police in which they are a part of.  The purpose of Dudley Randall's poem, Ballad of Birmingham, is to highlight and bring attention to the horrific struggles for basic human rights. Dudley also seeks to shed light on the fracturing of African-American families and the role of youth in the struggle for equality. Perhaps the most significant thing about this piece is the point of view it takes.

            Birmingham, Alabama was the focal point of race relations during the 1960’s, whether it be Martin Luther’s imprisonment, or other race riots, the events in Birmingham led the resistance to racial injustice. This poem is perhaps the epitome of the struggles against these injustices. It depicts a conversation between a mother and her child, where the child wishes to go and fight for basic human dignity and rights, but the mother warns of the danger. This highlights the fracturing of families during the time of the race riots and revolts and how the police brutality tore apart these families. For example in line 25, it is evident that the mother loses her child when Randall writes, “For when she heard the explosion, Her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham Calling for her child” (Randall, 25). The struggle against these racial injustices sheds light on race relations and how black families were disproportionately affected by these struggles. The fact that the black woman loses her child while fighting for equality shows the stark contrast between the two societies [white and black] during this period.

            Perhaps, the more significant element of this poem is the point of view taken. The poem establishes the setting of a home where it depicts an otherwise normal conversation between a black mother and child. This view on race riots and struggles sought to bring light to the different side of race relations. Regardless of what was portrayed in the media, the struggles of those individuals who were most affected were whitewashed and thrown out the window. Randall seeks to bring these people into the light and highlight their struggles as possibly the most significant as they were the most affected by these tragedies. This is shown by the unbiased yet ‘real’ viewpoint taken of a fictional story coinciding with a historical event. Randall sheds light onto the struggles of the black body and rather than homogenizing them, seeks to emphasize the importance of their individual actions and bring brutality and inequality, as experienced by these individuals, to the forefront of the discussion.

Book of the Grotesque

            Winesburg, Ohio is an example of Sherwood Anderson’s criticism revolving around the idea of truth and the inability to break the notion of what absolute truth is and means, pertaining to an individual. The first chapter in the novel, ‘The Book of the Grotesques’, sets a tone for the rest of the novel that highlights this fact. Anderson portrays the idea of a grotesque as not necessarily negative, as all truths are not bad, yet he does maintain that one must inevitably break free of their higher truth to achieve individualism and further advancements in personal expression and ultimately ‘freedom’. ‘The Book of the Grotesques’ cements the tone for the rest of the novel and establishes truth a major focal point of Anderson’s social criticism.

            To understand how Anderson sets up the idea of truth and how what alternative he presents to this notion, one must first understand how he defines one who clings to the truth. He refers to the people who suffer from this as grotesques, he writes, “It was the truths that made the people grotesques. The old man had quite an elaborate theory concerning the matter. It was his notion that the moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a falsehood” (Anderson, 5). This shows Anderson’s emphasis on maintaining a truth that becomes absolute to the point where it becomes what he describes as a falsehood. Every chapter quantifies this and has an individual that refuses to break the mold. For example, in the chapter ‘Hands’, Anderson, when describing Wing Biddlebaum refers to him and his hands as grotesque, claiming, “They became his distinguishing feature, the source of his fame. Also they made more grotesque an already grotesque and elusive individuality” (Anderson, 11). This example specifically creates an interesting dichotomy that relies on the notion that an absolute truth is necessarily destructive. Each character, including Wing, experience negative affects from maintaining this truth. Unsurprisingly, all of these affects deal with the theme of loneliness. External of Wing, characters like Elizabeth and Alice rely on the certain truth and thus feel desolate and have ultimately been ideologically subjugated due this. Alice remains lonely because she holds onto the idea of Ned returning, while Elizabeth holds onto the idea of leaving Winesburg for a better life. The inability to break this causes separation and deprives these individuals of agency to the point where Elizabeth is referred to as lifeless, when Anderson claims, “The presence of the tall ghostly figure, moving slowly through the halls, he took as a reproach to himself” (Anderson, 21).

            While Anderson paints a negative picture of truth he also offers an escape from this reliance on truth and a way to ultimately destroy this cycle. The elixir as Foster might call it, is youth. Anderson explains “ It was the young thing inside him that saved the old man” (Anderson, 6). The idea of youth is another prevalent theme that allows these characters an option to break the mold. This is seen in nearly every chapter specifically through George Willard who represents youth and innocence. He has not yet been corrupted by the truths of the world and becomes a model by which these other characters can develop an ultimate sense of agency.

Hands

Winesburg, Ohio establishes many universal themes and criticisms of society. Whether these qualms are justified is up to interpretation. Also debatable is the meanings of the stories that Sherwood Anderson tells. For example, the most controversial and possibly most devastating objection that Anderson makes his in the beginning of the novel in the chapter ‘Hands’. This chapter details the isolation of Wing Biddlebaum, a rarely seen and mysterious old man who has hands that shake profusely. Through Wing Biddlebaum, Anderson highlights and makes a social and critical commentary on the nature of pedophilia and molestation.

Wing Biddlebaum is the epitome of desolation. He leaves the broader establishment of society and nobody in Winesburg is quite sure why. Surprisingly, he has caused self-exclusion rather than exclusion by another force. This is seen when Anderson writes, “Wing Biddlebaum, forever frightened and beset by a ghostly band of doubts, did not think of himself as in any way a part of the life of the town where he had lived for twenty years” (Anderson, 8). Here it is evident that Wing recognizes his isolation, but remains resolved to maintain his current state of affairs. The reason for this withdrawal is based on internal character developments. As seen in the above quote, Wing is in a permanent state of fear, induced by “by a ghostly band of doubts”. This is the first indication that Wing has committed some sort of act in the past that continues to haunt him. The idea of self-induced isolation is significant to the idea of pedophilia because it highlights the fact that even the character recognizes the wrongdoing in general.

Wing’s attitude around George Willard and his beliefs toward younger men in general highlight his descent toward molestation and attraction to younger children. Immediately in the chapter, Anderson creates a dichotomy between Wing being alone and him with George Willard. Anderson highlights this in multiple instances, first he shows this in Wing’s voice, claiming “The voice that had been low and trembling became shrill and loud”(Anderson, 9). Next he directly claims that George functionally inverses his personality, claiming

“In the presence of George Willard, Wing Biddlebaum, who for twenty years had been the town mystery, lost something of his timidity, and his shadowy personality, submerged in a sea of doubts, came forth to look at the world. With the young reporter at his side, he ventured in the light of day into Main Street or strode up and down on the rickety front porch of his own house, talking excitedly.” (Anderson, 9)

            This quote shows the shift and the binary created between other individuals and younger males, i.e. George Willard. Another and possibly more significant example of this is Wing’s dream where he is thinking about George and young men claiming “Out of the dream Wing Biddlebaum made a picture for George Willard. In the picture men lived again in a kind of pastoral golden age. Across a green open country came clean-limbed young men, some afoot, some mounted upon horses. In crowds the young men came to gather about the feet of an old man who sat beneath a tree in a tiny garden and who talked to them”(Anderson, 11). Here shows how Wing is attracted to the idea of younger men overall and becomes obsessed with the idea of them so much so that he dreams about them.

            It is also important to recognize diction and how Anderson carefully displays the language that he does to describe Wing’s actions. The most explicit example is the use of the word ‘caress’, which has a denotation of ‘to touch or stroke lightly in a loving or endearing manner’. Anderson’s use of this word specifically emphasizes the love he has for George Willard and how deeply he feels about him. The almost sexual nature of this encounter only highlights the nature of Wing’s actions.
  Pausing in his speech, Wing Biddlebaum looked long and earnestly at George Willard. The context of the word is perhaps the most prevalent example, upon seeing George, Anderson describes Wing saying "His eyes glowed. Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look of horror swept over his face." (Anderson, 11). This quote combines all the elements previously discussed. It uses caress, but also highlights the idea that Wing recognizes his corrupt actions.