Winesburg Ohio was one of those books in English that I really believed wouldn't be able to hold my attention. There were a couple stories that I highlighted in my previous blog posts that stood out to me as being interesting and intriguing but other than that I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters or the strife they were faced with during daily life in the small Ohio town. One of the major reasons why I failed to connect with the characters was that many of the themes and motifs that drove the members of the town to become grotesque beings were characteristics I have never experienced before. Thoughts like complete isolation and utter hatred for others was something alien to me and in some cases I didn't understand what led the characters to develop these feelings.
Two of the major themes that reoccurred the most during the story were the feeling of isolation and alienation. Many of the characters in the stories felt isolated because they lacked connection with the other members of the town. These connections were never formed or were broken for many different reasons, but one theme that stayed constant with why these connections were broken was a form of alienation or exclusion for some reason. This reason could either be a detestable act that happened in the past or it could have stemmed from an overall discomfort that was given off by the character. In the case of characters like Kate the schoolteacher, she felt isolated and alienated because of her physical appearance as well as her seemingly unnatural attraction to George Williard, a boy she used to teach. Anyway you look at it, the characters in Winesburg felt alone, with little to look forward to in their lives doing nothing but waiting for the sweet embrace from their future lover death to swallow them up and end their suffering.
I also felt that at times it was hard to connect with some of the characters in the book. I had a hard time identifying with Elmer Crowley the most out of the characters in the book. Possibly because while I have felt alone at times, I have never been to this degree. Also, Elmer does things to make himself stick out that he does not realize, which as someone not from this odd town, seems just to not make sense. While that may be true, the book as a whole was actually pretty engaging to me, the hints at common themes and motifs in each story helped to stay engaged.
ReplyDeleteI think readers are meant to identify more with a single character each than every character. Sure, there are elements of each of us in all of Winesburg's residents, but Winesburg is just supposed to be a normal town, with normal people. There are people here in Reading that fit the same mold as all the grotesques. It seems like the book was meant to make readers see themselves in a different light.
DeleteI agree with how it is hard to identify exactly with all of the characters, but I take that as a good thing, because the situations of each grotesque is usually extreme and results in a drastic psycological pain. However, there are some stories that make me wince because they remind me of certain situations, but the correlation between the stories and the situations they remind me of is always weak, which I am thankful for.
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