Winesburg, Ohio

I found Winesburg, Ohio to be one of the most interesting and one of my most favorite books I have read this year. I enjoyed the structure of the book and how it was divided into a collection of short stories that individually described the unique group of characters that lived in the small city of Winesburg. Each chapter had a new interesting character with a unique background or set of ideals and shows how the one character, George Willard, reacts with each one. Andersons creative style in character development gave me a connection to the reading. I found myself studying the characters habits and trying to find the significance of each of their stories. Each short story that I read left me wondering how these characters were significant to the entirety of the story. While each character had very distinguishing characteristics and backgrounds Anderson used the same symbols and motifs in each of their stories. Many of the characters were described as afraid and silent which paints an image that the city of Winesburg is a community based off a group of people who feel isolated and afraid. Winesbug, Ohio had many interesting characters and stories that I liked but I found my favorite one to be “Hands”. “Hands” was the story of Wing Biddlebaum, who was known as the town mystery. He lived in Winesburg for 20 years and never made a relationship with anyone but George Willard. Anderson emphasizes the silence and quietness of Biddlebaum and then notes that he did not always used to be that way. The story tells of how Biddlebaum used to go by a different name of Adolph Myers, and lived in Pennsylvania where he was a school teacher. He used to give long passionate lectures to his students and always caressed them with his hands while he talked until he was accused of molestation and chased out of town. Now that he is in Winesburg, Anderson does not fail to mention or describe his hands every chance he gets. In Winesburg he is famous for his hands for he is known across town for being the fastest berry picker. His hands have great dexterity and should be recognized but whenever they are mentioned or described they are trembling or being hidden. This shows a kind of ironic relationship between Biddlebaum and his remarkable hands. Although they are great at what they do and make him successful at picking berries they were also the reason for all of his troubles. Because of his hands he is no longer a teacher, is afraid to talk or have a relationship with the community, and even made him change his name and identity. Its ironic how the things that define him also ruined him. Because of  Biddlebaum’s hands we start to characterize him as being lonely and isolated. This idea of isolation becomes a main theme throughout many of the other short stories in the book.