Essay on Biography and Works of Sherwood Anderson

The author, Sherwood Anderson is one of the first of many writers to dwell into the deeper and sadder themes in literature.  He inspired many other writers that dealt with the darker/sad but true themes of reality. “Anderson was a major influence on the generation of American writers who came after him. These writers included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner. Anderson thus occupies a place in literary history that cannot be fully explained by the literary quality of his work” (“Fogel” 1). Anderson had lived most of his childhood life in a rural community, which affected how he wrote as well. His writings were inspired by the place he grew up in, and it helped influence the type of themes he used. “Sherwood Anderson was born on Sept. 13, 1876, in Camden, Ohio, the third of seven children. His father was an easygoing, improvident man whose itinerant habits resulted in spotty educations for his children. Sherwood had no formal education after the age of 14, although he did attend Wittenberg College for a short time” (“Anderson” 1). Another quote to support ths claim would be “The stories explore the lives of inhabitants of Winesburg, a fictional version of Clyde, Ohio, the small farm town where Anderson lived for about 12 years of his early life” (“Fogal” 1).  After being a working man for years, there was something that occurred that caused him to change his ways. The reason that most of his early works were actually brought forth, was because of the mental illness that came abruptly in his early adulthood. “The turning point in Anderson's life came in 1912, when, suffering from nervous exhaustion and amnesia, he suddenly deserted his factory. The next year, with his brother Karl, a well-known painter, he went to Chicago and fell in with the "Chicago group"--Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg, and others--through whose efforts his earliest work was published” (“Anderson” 1).

“The Egg” by Sherwood Anderson, was created in 1920, where it was about an object that represents a family’s hopes and dreams, and is very consistent in the story. There is raw emotion shown in the narrator’s mother, as she is striving that both her husband and father succeed. She is a driving force for the family and displays a strong emotional attachment to her family. ”The narrator of this story makes much of the fact that his mother was ambitious. She is the one who has dreams of greatness and success for her son, dreams that are presumably the result of her studies of US presidents who rose from poverty to the heights of power. The story notes that she has no ambition for herself, but she is filled with ambition for her husband and son”(“The Egg” 52). As well as potraying the theme of human emotion through this famioy, Sherwood would tie in the theme of the American Dream. The following quote expresses a theme of the American Dream in which Anderson used frequently in his stories, which also contains a sense of raw human emotion. “The story treats “the American passion for getting up in the world” as a disease, as the kind of truth which makes grotesques of its devotees. The mother is “incurably ambitious,” the father becomes “feverish in his anxiety to please,” and the child, “catching the infection,” smiles at the cat (“The Egg” 68). You get to understand that through the perepective of the story, you get to feel a better sense of the certain perspective Sherwood Anderson uses. The point of view of the story which can display the feelings of the character, and the emotion they go through, are given in the following quote. offers a writer particular benefits and difficulties. Since the speaker of the story refers to himself or herself as “I,” readers feel close to the story, as if they are hearing it from someone who was really there” (The Egg” 54).

“Sophistication”, which was again written by Sherwood Anderson in 1919, also goes about the theme of the Amercan Dream. It’s because both George and Helen are “sophisticated” and have grown mentally, that they know not everything you wish and grind for will get you to what you seek for the most. ”George and Helen, both seeking to escape from the restrictions of small-town life, find in each other a moment of sophistication, or wisdom, as they sit in the empty grandstand together. Part of their wisdom is gained from their disillusionment with the American Dream. The idea that anyone can succeed through hard work and determination is a lie—as George realizes from listening to the townsfolk, and Helen learns from suffering the pomposity of the college professor”. (“Sophistication” 296). Sophistication goes along with the overall theme of human emotion as well and touches upon the less talked about emotions. You can see that the main character deals with their feelings of sadness and depression. Since George is a representation of Anderson, they share the same internal struggles., such as the feeling that human beings have pent-up emotions such as sadness, that he could not fully convey. ”He wants to put into words the depth and sadness of human beings, most of whom live lives “of quiet desperation,” as Henry David Thoreau had put it. And so George “began to think of the people in the town where he had always lived with something like reverence.” Indeed, George’s plan to be a writer reflects Anderson’s own struggle to become a writer. In “Sophistication,” Anderson transforms a simple moment of mutual recognition in the lives of two young people into a work of literature, thus bridging the chasm between art and experience. (“Sophistication” 296). There is a tie between both Sherwood Anderson and his characters he creates in his short stories. George and Helen are looking for a way to be free from the old world, and enter themselves into the new world. There is a feeling of deprivation as they cannot escape from the old life right away. “But in Winesburg, Ohio, modeled on the town of Clyde, Ohio, where Anderson lived as a child, life had not yet succumbed wholly to the modern age. Nevertheless, young people of the day, like George and Helen, felt the pull of the cities and longed to break free of the “old-fashioned” world of their parents, in which county fairs and horse races figured prominently”(“Sophistication” 296).

Another piece of literature that deals with this similar theme is called “Hands” also written by Sherwood Anderson 1916, which goes to tell a tale about a certain man, Wing Biddlebaum, a withered old man who faces his own challenge of getting by. As mentioned, Sherwood switched it up when it came to the themes of his writings. He explored the more obscure, and like to use human emotion as a way to express his themes. “They disagreed with “genteel” nineteenth-century writers who said that optimistic themes and healthy characters should take center stage, and instead they experimented with unhappy and damaged characters engaged in impolite behaviors” (“Hands” 100). The overall theme of human emotion can be tied in through these stories because of the fact the Chicago Group writers choose to take a new turn on the new way of writing. In this story, Sherwood provided a way of expressing human emotions through a method of gestures, which was displayed by Wing. In the story, Biddlebaum used his hands to exprerss strong emotions such as love and compassion. In that review we see that his hands were his means of expressing love and that the nature of this love was creative, for it found its outlet in communicating to schoolboys, through his gentle caresses, his own tendency to dream. But his caresses were interpreted as homosexuality by stupid, insensitive townspeople, and he was driven from the town” (“Hands” 111). There was a very dark theme that carried througout the story, as Wing Biddlebaum experienced hatred, ans disapproval by the people of his own town who never knew his true story. Wing seems to be the butt of the joke, and so him knowing this, he is shown to be rather lonely. It’s inferred that he is alienated. “The central theme of the story is Wing Biddlebaum’s loneliness. The first image of the story is of him pacing alone on his porch, hoping his only friend will come to call. From his porch, he can see a group of people laughing and playing, but his only contact with them is when they make fun of him” (“Hands” 97).

In most of Anderson’s works, he mainly tackles the theme of the American Dream, which he then summed down to darker themes, as well as accompanying the theme of the American Dream.