Winesburg, Ohio

In “A Man of Ideas,” Anderson introduces Joe Welling: the local Standard Oil agent and a frenetic conversationalist given to bursts of inspiration that he shares with anyone who will listen. Anderson uses color imagery to juxtapose Joe’s personality with that of his dying mother:

HE LIVED WITH his mother, a grey, silent woman with a peculiar ashy complexion. The house in which they lived stood in a little grove of trees beyond where the main street of Winesburg crossed Wine Creek. His name was Joe Welling, and his father had been a man of some dignity in the community, a lawyer, and a member of the state legislature at Columbus. Joe himself was small of body and in his character unlike anyone else in town. He was like a tiny little volcano that lies silent for days and then suddenly spouts fire.

Cite this Quote

In "Respectability," Anderson sets his sights on Wash Williams, the telegraph operator for Winesburg, whose ghastly appearance matches his horrendous character. Anderson sets up his description of Williams in a particularly vivid example of visual imagery: 

[...] you have perhaps seen, blinking in a corner of his iron cage, a huge, grotesque kind of monkey, a creature with ugly, sagging, hairless skin below his eyes and a bright purple underbody. This monkey is a true monster. In the completeness of his ugliness he achieved a kind of perverted beauty. Children stopping before the cage are fascinated, men turn away with an air of disgust, and women linger for a moment, trying perhaps to remember which one of their male acquaintances the thing in some faint way resembles.

Cite this Quote

In "The Teacher," Kate Swift finds herself attracted to George Willard—despite the fact that he is her student. Anderson uses striking imagery to convey the power of this attraction and to emphasize the power dynamic between the mature Kate and the young George:

A great eagerness to open the door of life to the boy, who had been her pupil and who she thought might possess a talent for the understanding of life, had possession of her. So strong was her passion that it became something physical. Again her hands took hold of his shoulders and she turned him about. In the dim light her eyes blazed. She arose and laughed, not sharply as was customary with her, but in a queer, hesitating way. “I must be going,” she said. “In a moment, if I stay, I’ll be wanting to kiss you.”

Cite this Quote