The Life of Sherwood Anderson

1
The Life of Sherwood Anderson

• Including selected short stories from Winesburg,
  Ohio and The Triumph of the Egg
• By Matt Michels

2
Sherwood Andersons Life Story

• Born in Camden, Ohio, in 1876
• Moved from job to job until he divorced his first
  wife
• Produced seven notable works at the top of his
  writing career

3
Life Story Continued

• After producing these works, Anderson divorced
  two more wives and finally found his
  wife-until-death
• His latter novels were about labor conditions in
  the South
• Anderson died in 1941

4
Selections from Winesburg, Ohio

• Published in 1919
• Anderson incorporates one prevalent theme in all
  of the loosely connected stories of Winesburg
  he stresses that individuals themselves create
  their own isolated lives

5
The Book of the Grotesque

• Contains the lifeblood of many of Andersons
  short stories
• Andersons main goal is to destroy the walls
  between human beings

6
Hands

• Wing Biddlebaum lets his past dictate his future
• He has introverted himself because he is afraid
  of the consequences of remaining open to other
  people

7
Adventure

• Alice Hindman severely limits herself to herself
  because of a past heartbreak
• She reserves herself for her former love only,
  therefore forming a chasm between herself and the
  outside world

8
Loneliness

• Enoch Robinson is embodies the loneliness that
  Anderson focuses on
• Robinson actually creates a separate world for
  himself, alienating himself from the rest of the
  world

9
Summary of Winesburg, Ohio

• Although each of the circumstances surrounding
  Biddlebaum, Hindman, and Robinson are unique,
  they have one commonality they have imposed
  their loneliness upon themselves

10
Selections from The Triumph of the Egg

• Published in 1921
• Anderson again weaves the theme of loneliness
  into the short stories that comprise this work

11
The Dumb Man

• Completely symbolic short story
• The man who laughs throughout the narrators
  explanation

12
I Want to Know Why

• The narrator, a fifteen year old boy, allows an
  incident associated with a horse trainer to taint
  his view of horse racing
• The narrator is just beginning his process of
  alienation from something that he loves

13
The Other Woman

• The narrators friend tells the story of the most
  eventful week of his life
• The friend explains how he is going to let go of
  the other woman who nearly divided him from his
  wife

14
The Egg

• The narrator is an adult looking back on his past
• In retrospect, the narrator confirms that the
  egg has formed his identity

15
The Man in the Brown Coat

• The narrator is a man who is frustrated at
  himself for not being able to break through to
  his wife
• He says that he does not know his wife, nor does
  his wife know him

16
Brothers

• The story is about the struggle of a factory
  foreman who desperately reaches out to a
  beautiful yet unattainable ideal, believing that
  he must strive for it

17
Summary of The Triumph of the Egg

• The selected stories tie into the motif of
  loneliness that Anderson has established

18
Conclusion

• One major theme underscores all of Andersons
  notable works loneliness
• Anderson stresses the fact that human beings are
  responsible for their own loneliness, and that
  humans may break down the barriers of loneliness
  if they only recognize that they are trapping
  themselves