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Where does George Willard stand at times of challenge and controversy from the short story Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson? (especially the story Sophistication)

2007-02-25 06:07:19 · 5 answers · asked by ADIB 3 in Arts & Humanities Books & Authors

5 answers

"George Willard: The hero of the book, George is the only character who is woven through most of the stories. He acts like a medium of communication to the figures he encounters, allowing them to express their desires, thoughts, etc. Many figures seek him out as the only person in Winesburg to whom they can release their pent up frustrations and emotions. Several stories also center around George and his attempts to find love and mature into a man. He works as a reporter at the age of eighteen for the Winesburg Eagle. This brings him into close contact with the townspeople as he searches for stories. He wants to be a writer and finally decides to leave Winesburg for the city after his mother's death."

"A young man who works as a reporter in Winesburg, Ohio. Despite the fact that he is one of the least developed of the major characters, he occupies the central role in the book. As a result of either chance meetings or other people's decisions to confide in him, George is the figure who links many of the novel's disparate stories together.
In "Sophistication," George begins to look back on his childhood for the first time, giving him a new sense of manhood--a "moment of sophistication," as Anderson describes it. The Winesburg County Fair has set up shop in town, and as George watches the bustle of a late afternoon in autumn, his mind turns to Helen. He remembers an evening they spent together when he boasted to her foolishly about becoming a "big man," and he decides to go see her. Helen has come home for the weekend from college in Cleveland, and she, too, has begun to feel sophisticated. She has spent the day walking about with an instructor from the college, but she finds him boring and pompous, and in the evening she goes out seeking George. They encounter each other and go for a walk down to the edges of the fair ground, where they sit on a decayed grandstand as night settles in. They kiss briefly, but that impulse gives away to a sudden desire to run about in the darkness, knocking each other over like "excited little animals." Eventually, they come back into town, walking together in a very dignified fashion. "For some reason they could not have explained," Anderson writes, "they had both got from their silent evening together the thing needed."

"Sherwood Anderson wrote ‘‘Sophistication’’ as part of his novel Winesburg, Ohio, which was first published in 1919. For four years, living alone in an apartment in Chicago, he had worked steadily on the stories comprising the longer work, having been inspired by Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology and Gertrude Stein’s Three Lives. ‘‘Sophistication,’’ one of the final three chapters of Winesburg, Ohio, though part of a larger work, has often been interpreted by critics and readers as an independent story. Early reviewers said that the story reveals the secrets and hopes of George Willard and Helen White through its use of clear, conversational diction and graphic description of setting. Critics also noted that the character of George was a not-well-disguised portrait of Anderson himself. In the story, George hopes to fulfill his dream of becoming a thoughtful writer, not a ‘‘mere peddler of words,’’ as one of his teachers puts it. Back home during a summer festival, George visits Helen White again. With her encouragement, he seeks to escape peer pressure from old and young citizens of the town by undertaking the rites of passage that every young person must endure. "

2007-02-25 06:25:33 · answer #1 · answered by johnslat 7 · 0 0

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What can we analyze about George Willard, the character from Winesburg, OHio.?
Where does George Willard stand at times of challenge and controversy from the short story Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson? (especially the story Sophistication)

2015-08-06 07:10:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

George Willard

2016-12-16 20:07:09 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

Sparknotes Winesburg Ohio

2016-10-06 12:52:15 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

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they cant keep the character and replace the actor. like you said, they changed his face so that even when he goes through plastic surgery, he wont ever be the same. they're most likely going to kill off george and keep izzie. george hasnt been that active this season, and thats probably why. :(

2016-04-06 01:49:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

clau989 motanel .

2007-02-25 06:25:44 · answer #6 · answered by avramescu claudiu 1 · 0 3

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