George Willard's maturation in Winesburg, Ohio

¶ … maturation of George Willard in Winesburg, Ohio.

The Maturation of George Willard

Winesburg, Ohio is drafted as a monograph detailing the life and the atmosphere of a small American town in Ohio. The book is considered to be a landmark of modernism and an extremely interesting and panoramic rendition of American life at the beginning of the twentieth century. Moreover, the text and especially the numerous characters surprise through their oddity. As the author himself emphasizes in the Prologue, the book is intended as a collection of grotesque characters and occurrences. The author uses the grotesque as a mode of rendition because he believes that life in itself is grotesque and that reality should not be sublimated through fiction. The text is only apparently a mere collection of separate sketches. A closer look proves that the sketches are not disconnected and that they form in fact a soldered whole, both through the continuation of the plot and through the unity of meaning.

George Willard is virtually the hero of the book and the only character who appears throughout almost all of the separate stories. As in a usual novel, he is the main character of the book and as such, he is taken as a landmark for the main point-of-view. It is all the more interesting that the author manages to maintain the panoramic view of the action despite the fact that he does allow for a center or a main character as well. Life in the small town seems to flow regularly and to involve all its actors at once, while George Willard is only one of the actors who are focused more closely and more often. His placement at the center of the book is not accidental. Significantly, George is a reporter for the Winesburg Eagle, the local newspaper. In his position he is preoccupied with watching the other people and their actions and thus getting a permanent taste of the atmosphere surrounding him. George's position in the book as a reporter who monitors the other people and the general climate of life in the small town is reflected back on the structure of the book. Thus, the book itself seems to be sketched by the absent-minded, partially objective pencil of a reporter. Anderson thus purposely adopts a somewhat detached position from his writing, maintaining his own voice aloof in the attempt to imitate better the style of a journalist rather than a serious, philosophical writer.

In this context, the process of maturation that the young man George Willard gradually undergoes in the novel goes almost unperceived, as the author's intention means it. Willard is but eighteen years old, and although his own adventures seem to be mingled and be muffled in the roar of the small town, he actually undergoes all the main steps of a maturation process. Thus, his interaction with the other characters in the novel and his implication in most of the occurrences presented is the means through which the author provides a glimpse of George's gradual maturation. First of all, at the beginning, George is introduced in his relationship with his mother, Elizabeth Willard. At a certain point, the mother remarks that George's habit of speaking aloud to himself is an instance of his preoccupation with knowing and understanding himself. Thus, George is portrayed subtly through the indications and observations that the other characters give about him. At the beginning therefore, he is evidently seeking for himself and trying to understand his ego: "He is groping about, trying to find himself,' she thought. 'He is not a dull clod, all words and smartness. Within him there is a secret something that is striving to grow. It is the thing I let be killed in myself.'"(Anderson, 30) Despite the rather distanced relationship that George has with his mother, she is able to perceive his inner restlessness and the incipient process of maturation. Furthermore, it is in this sketch that George decides to leave Winesburg. He tells his mother about the plans he makes and about the feeling that he must go away and continue watching people and thinking: "I just want to go away and look at people and think."(Anderson, 36) it is very significant that George is the only one who actually leaves the town by the end of the book. Also, the fact that the book closes with his departure accentuates the focus on the process of maturation that he undergoes.

His relationship with many other characters is also extremely important. Another significant personage of the book is Doctor Parcival, a philosopher who influences George's way of thinking to a certain extent. Thus, interestingly, the doctor tells George in one of his rather raving speeches that he himself was a reporter like George only in a different town. Although the truth of the statement is doubtful, it is nevertheless significant because it emphasizes the way in which the other characters surround George Willard and place him at the center of the action. Parcival obviously reflects his own person in that of the young reporter, telling him even that he might be his disciple and write the things that he has never got the chance to: "If something happens perhaps you will be able to write the book that I may never get written."(Anderson, 48)Many other characters, such as Wing Biddlebaum find Willard to be a very safe and comfortable person to talk to and thus share a great deal of confidences with him.

Willard's relationships with the female characters of the book are also very significant. Thus, an important step in his maturation process is the moment when he has the first intimate intercourse with a woman. The scene is very relevant as George is very timid in the beginning, as he goes to the meeting with Louise Trunnion. However, as he adjusts to the situation which is so new to him, he suddenly changes his attitude and proceeds to persuade the reluctant Louise to give in to his advances: "He became wholly the male, bold and aggressive. In his heart there was no sympathy for her. 'Ah, come on, it'll be all right. There won't be anyone know anything. How can they know?' he urged."(Anderson, 58) This first contact thus makes him reveal his aggressive and entirely masculine side, which had lain hidden so far.

Another important step in George's maturation is his love affair with Helen White. Helen is the prettiest girl in town and also one of the wealthiest. In the beginning, she gives preference to another young man, but when the latter leaves town she begins to show interest in George. They share one night together, as they walk away from the crowd gathered at the town's fair. The experience of love naturally accelerates the young man's process of maturation. He awakens to a new interior life, which develops his personality and makes him feel big and important: "The excited young man, unable to bear the weight of his own thoughts, began to move cautiously along the alleyway [...] George went into a vacant lot and throwing back his head looked up at the sky. He felt unutterably big and remade by the simple experience through which he had been passing..."(Anderson, 221) Thus, the relationship with Helen, one of the few characters who is not so grotesque, constitutes an important step in George's process of growing up.

The most significant step however is also the last he takes, that is, the moment in which he lives Winesburg. Curiously, George is perceived by many of the local people with certain envy, as he seems to fit in very well in the small town society. Seth Richmond for instance, one of the young men who is considered to be very profound and passionate by the people of the town, states that George belongs to the town and fits in perfectly: "George belongs to this town. He'd shout at Turk and Turk would shout at him. They'd both be secretly pleased by what they had said. it's different with me. I don't belong."(Anderson, 157) Nevertheless, his decision to leave the town is not unexpected. He naturally feels the need to expand his views and his personality and incorporate new experiences instead of living a rather dull life in a stale community.