The Grotesques in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio.doc

论安德森的小镇畸人中的“畸人”们the grotesques in sherwood andersons winesburg, ohioabstract:1sherwood anderson played a special role in modern american literature, and he was also one of the american writers who used sigmund freuds psychoanalysis in their works. andersons masterpiece winesburg, ohio is hailed as both a first-rate psychological document and a fable of american estrangement. in this book, the “grotesques” are thirsty for love, understanding and freedom, but for their isolation they lack communication, therefore they trap themselves into hopelessness and sadness. this paper tries to study the causes of the “grotesques” from psychological and social aspects. it is composed of four parts. the first part mainly describes the social and cultural history background of the age. the second part deals with the theme of the book-the loneliness and alienation of human nature，and andersons life experience; part three gives a detailed analysis of the book aiming at showing different types of “grotesques” and explores the causes. part four draws a conclusion of the whole thesis, and includes that winesburg, ohio is a microcosm of the american small town life.key words: sherwood anderson; grotesque; loneliness; alienation 摘 要：舍伍德安德森是一位在美国现代文学史上有特殊地位的作家, 也是较早把弗洛伊德心理学运用到文学创作中的美国作家之一。他的代表作小镇畸人被誉为一部“一流的心理学文献”，一个“美国异化的寓言”。在这部小说中作者刻画的“畸人”渴望爱、理解和自由,但又因为自我封闭缺乏交流而陷入绝望痛苦的境地。本文试图用精神分析与社会分析相结合的手法来研究畸人形成的因素。全文共分为四部分：第一部分主要阐述作品的社会文化等历史背景；第二部分揭示安德森的生活经历和小镇畸人中所表达的主题人性的孤独和异化；第三部分分析文本, 阐明不同类型的畸人的表现形式及导致其“畸变”的原因；第四部分总结全文, 说明小镇畸人是美国过渡时期小镇人民生活的缩影。关键词：舍伍德安德森；畸人；孤独；异化contentsi. introduction to the history background of the early 20th century.1a. changes of the society. .1b. trends of thoughts.21. freudianism.22. puritanism.2c. development of the realism.3ii. sherwood andersons experience and the themes of winesburg, ohio.4a. sherwood andersons experience.4b. the themes of winesburg, ohio.5iii. the analysis of winesburg, ohio .6a. grotesque of misunderstanding of the expression of love.7b. grotesque of thwarted lifes dream.8c. grotesque of puritanism and industrialism.9iv. conclusion.11works cited. 13i. introduction to the history background of the early 20th century andersons masterpiece winesburg, ohio is a collection of short stories and is written between 1915 and 1917. the time in which the book finished is about the early 20th century, and most stories of the book seem to take place at that time. so in the beginning of this paper it is necessary to introduce the background, which includes the changes of the society, the trends of the thoughts at that time and the development of the realism. for the readers to know these backgrounds of the early 20th century will be a great help to understand the book and the grotesques.a. changes of the societythe war in the human history has been always one of the important events, which widely influence every fields of society. for americans, the american civil war is a powerful example. it can really be regarded as a turning point in the american history no matter in the political sense or the economic form. the belligerent two parts of the war were the north and the south. the north was the industrial society, and the south was archaic semi-feudal plantation society, to some extent, the south stood in the way of the development of the industrialization in the north. in other words, the american civil war was the result of bitter conflict of two different economic systems. at the end of the war, the triumph of the north over the south proved that the industrialization was more powerful and active than agrarianism. so with the success of the north, the whole america entered into an industrial society. and it also led to a big change in peoples life style. as eleanor anderson said “a sudden and almost universal turning of men from old handicrafts toward our modern life of the machines” (79).before the civil war, most americans lived in villages and small towns because the community forms of america were not cities. and the people living in villages kept a close relationship and worked together. their life was peaceful and harmonious, and communication and understanding was an easy thing. but when the civil war finished, the industrialization became the main trend of the society, and with it the urbanism swept over america. to some extent, this is an advantage for the american society, because the american peoples life became more colorful and convenient: railroads were built, many coal fields and iron fields were discovered that brought economic interest to people, various kinds of products poured into peoples lives, and the business appeared everywhere of the america. on the other hand, this new force began to destroy the peaceful and happy life of the rural america. during this transitional progress, the small town people made them accommodate to the big change was an important thing. with the growth of business, the pursuit of wealthy was the first thing for some people, and more and more farmers sold their lands and began making their way in to cities. but some people doubted and feared the changes; they yearned for the good old days.b. trends of thoughts in the first half of 20th century, the two main streams of thoughts that had great effect on american literature were freudianism and marxism. anderson went to chicago in the 1910s, there he was greatly influenced by the new thoughts brought by the chicago renaissance, and the freuds theory was the most influential thoughts he absorbed. even some critics called him “the american freudian” (hoffman 309). this thought can be seen everywhere in his book winesburg, ohio. 1. freudianism at the end of the 19th century in europe, psychoanalysis came into being, which had a great, extensive influence on modern human studies and other fields. freuds psychoanalysis may be one of his great achievements, which was based on profound research into the psychological process of humans sub-consciousness. freud divided peoples spiritual activity into three degrees: consciousness, fore-consciousness and sub-consciousness. he thought all human spiritual activity mainly belonged to the sub-consciousness, and peoples spiritual injuries can bring his spiritual disorders. he also distinguished three structural elements with the mind, which he called id, ego, and super-ego. the id is that part in which are situated the instinctual sexual drives which requires satisfaction; the super-ego is that part which contains the socially-acquired control mechanism; the ego is the conscious self created by the dynamic tensions and interactions between the id and the super-ego.2. puritanism if the freudianism is regarded as one of the important new thoughts of the early 20th century which impenetrate the winesburg, ohio, here another“old” but equal important thought, puritanism, also has to be mentioned. the first settlers who became the founding fathers of the american nation were quite a few of them puritans. they came to america out of various reasons, but it should be remembered that they were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. they carried with them to america a code of values, a philosophy of life, and a point of view, which, in time, took root in the new world and became what is popularly known as american puritanism. a dominant factor in american life, american puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in american thought. it has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, rather than a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the americans breathe. to the pious puritan the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of god. when they arrived in the virgin north american continent, they became aware that god must have sent them there for a definite purpose and that, as gods chosen people, they were meant to reestablish a commonwealth based on the teachings of the bible, restore the lost paradise. to realize this purpose, they believed some principles firmly. first, according to puritanism every man was sinful after the fall of adam and eve. and god sent his grace only to his chosen people. besides, the virtues in puritanism were perseverance, stark simplicity, and strenuous good works, and the depravity includes idleness, drunkenness and sexual immorality. after american industrialization some of the religious convention of the puritans hadnt existed, but the moral value still played a significant role in the mid-western peoples life.c. development of the realism the moment when andersons first work appeared, the intense arguments on to which school anderson should belong began. critics tried to put him into naturalism, realism and so on. actually, anderson is a realist, because his american models for fiction writing are the realists like william dean howells, henry james and mark twain. besides that, like other realists, andersons works writes the ugly and true features of life reflecting the true society of his time. his masterpiece winesburg, ohio deals with peoples life and mental situation in mid-west. the following statement is about the development of realism. the civil war (1861-1865) ended the romantic period, then the american literary history entered into a new age-the realism. the style of realism was definitely different from romanticism and sentimentalism. “it expresses the concern for the commonplace and the low, and offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience” (chang 4). in this important literary new school, william dean howells (1837-1920) may be the champion. he used his powerful critical writings to make a big success for realism. besides him, the other two influential writers of the realism were mark twain (1835-1910) and henry james (1843-1916). mark twain was regarded as a local colorist, and his books have become part of the american cultural tradition, especially, his masterpiece the adventures of huckleberry finn was said to be the ancestor of modern american literature. henry james was famous for his “international theme” and his psychological realism, and he was thought to be one of the most important literary figures of the 19th century. in the 20th century, the american society underwent a big transition, and in this big change, the writers saw mans life helpless and hopeless. compared to the”howellsian realism” the writers of that time changed the genteel tone and used sharper tone to tell the truth of the harsher realities of american life. the realism entered into a new development, important writers were stephen crane (1871-1900), frank norris (1870-1902) and theodore dreiser (1871-1945). especially theodore dreiser, his masterpiece was sister carrie in which naturalism attained maturity. these writers almost came from the mid-west, and they revealed a bitter and wretched world, making the literature reflect the real world.ii. sherwood andersons experience and the themes of winesburg, ohioa. sherwood andersons experience it is believed that a writers own life experience decides his works both in content and theme, for anderson, this is also true, because his legendary life experience made his masterpiece winesburg, ohio a successful one. he was born in a small town of camden, ohio, the third child of a poor family. anderson had spent his childhood and youth at clyde, ohio. because of economic condition, anderson ended his formal education before his graduation from high school, and he did a lot of jobs to help his family, such as a newsboy, a field worker, etc. and this kind of life made him understand life more deeply. during the spanish-american war, anderson joined in as a soldier. after that he became an advertising copywriter in chicago, then married the daughter of a wealthy businessman, and owned his own paint factory. when he was about thirty-six, he was already a successful businessman with a happy family, but at that time he suffered a nervous breakdown. the fact of the matter was that he didnt want to carry on the paint business, and thought he could be servant to words only. gradually, this conflict and his overwork threatened his health. one day, he left his office, never to return. then people found he was wandering about in a confused condition and sent him to hospital. when he recovered, he turned to writing. he went to chicago again and joined in the “chicago renaissance”. there he got to know carl sandburg and theodore dreiser, and was influenced by many thoughts, such as freudianism, free love and socialism. “he experienced the thrilling moment of awareness that he had become a writer” (chang 246). like many other great american writers, anderson is prolific. in all of his life, he published some proses, poems, and seven novels. among all his works, winesburg, ohio is his most successful and celebrated work. it was published in 1919. for winesburg, ohio anderson became one of the significant literary figures. it was a very important work in american literature history, because it started a new way of dealing with familiar material such as the american small town life, which gave great inspiration for other writers.b. the themes of winesburg, ohio winesburg, ohio is a collection of twenty-one interrelated but independent short stories. in this book anderson paid attention to the twisted personalities of the small town people in the american transition from rural to industrial society. the people in this book are frustrated in their longing for community with others, but nobody can completely understand them, so the isolated lives have to live in loneliness and desperation, in the eyes of“ordinary people” they are“grotesques”. although the most negative criticism said the winesburg, ohio had no clear ideas or significant themes, and they called it a“burlesque”, anderson refuted it as this, “the book is, of course, in no sense a burlesque, but it is an effort to treat the lives of simple ordinary people in an american middle western town with sympathy and understanding” (verde 17). the original title of winesburg, ohio was“the book of the grotesque”, which indicated andersons purpose clearly. and in the brief introductory to the book, anderson pointed out the theoretic causes for the grotesque in a symbolic way:that in the beginning when the world was young there were a great many thoughts but no such thing as a truth. man made the truths himself and each truth was a composite of a great many vague thoughts. all about in the world were the truths and they were all beautiful.it was the truths that made the people grotesques. the old people 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)another important theme is the reasons that lead people to be grotesques. penetrating the surface of the literal meaning of this passage, we can realize andersons interpretation of the state of human soul and values. andersons attitude toward grotesques was quite sympathetic. he thought the grotesques were not horrible but amusing and beautiful. he said, “certainly, i didnt write to make fun of these people or to make them ridiculous or ugly; they were people i personally would be glad to spend my life with” (shackelford 42). the writing tone of the book is not only sympathetic but also full of love. and this kind of love anderson explained clearly in his book a story tellers story“ we would live, i dreamed, each his own life, each gathering what beauty might be possible from the great outer world and bringing it as a prize to the other. there would be this man i loved and of whom i asked nothing and toward whom my whole impulse would be forever just to give to the very top of my bent”(anderson 135). iii. the analysis of winesburg, ohiowinesburg, ohio is a collection of twenty-one stories about individual inhabitants of winesburg. these literary figures live in a transitional period in american history, the years between the civil war and the turn of the century. for the inner and outside reasons, they lead isolated lives as grotesques. every grotesques life is a special and attractive story. and anderson writes each story as a“half tale and half psychological anatomizing”(mencken h: l. 259), which mainly reveals the grotesques frustration, isolation and repression from different aspects of their lives. these grotesques can be divided into three groups to discuss.a. grotesque of misunderstanding of the expression of love “hands”, one of the twenty-one stories in the book, relates the bitter story of biddlebaum and his pair of sensitive hands. biddlebaum, a twenty-year resident of winesburg, whose original name was adolph myers, is a schoolteacher in a town in pennsylvania in his youth. as a teacher, adolph myers is deeply fond of his pupils.“ in their feeling for the boys under their charge such men are not unlike the finer sort of women in their love of men”(anderson 11). in the evenings he always walks and talks with these schoolboys. during the talks, his affection