The Synecdochic Motif in Sherwood Andersons Winesburg, Ohio

The Synecdochic Motif in Winesburg, Ohio The sum of the parts of the vignettes of townsfolk of Winesburg, Ohio is greater than the whole novel. Winesburg, too, is only one town in all of Ohio, which is one of a host of states in the U.S. This magnification is at the heart of the novel, in which synecdoche is the main lens through which Sherwood Anderson allows us to regard the grotesques. This narrow aperture of perception does not compromise full characterization, but instead forces the reader into searching for subtle connections within and across the sketches. The opening story, Hands, launches the titular synecdochic motif whose pairings Anderson systematically and symmetrically deploys. Discounting the final†¦show more content†¦The paradox features an impossible or illogical state of being for the hand, but one that exists nonetheless. Anderson cues us to the paradoxs importance by showing Wing Biddlebaum rubbing his hands together and looking up and down the road (5). The gesture has little to d o with his vision at the moment, but suggests that the reader similarly look both ways when reading through the book and exercise his depth perception. We take note of the perplexing admixture of human emotion under the surface of a simple handshake: He put out his hand as though to greet the younger man and then awkwardly drew it back again (141). The relationship between the two men†¹that of a doctor greeting a dead patients son†¹is summed up by the handshake, a formalized mode of greeting in a situation that requires the tact of more informal tactility. The ambivalence that meets a person when thrust into society, of desiring intimacy but fearing the proximity, is the central motivation of the grotesques, as voiced by an eighteen-year-old George Willard, who later recants his vows with angry, forced aloofness: With all his heart he wants to come close to some other human, touch someone with his hands, be touched by the hand of anotherÃ…  He wants, most of al l, understanding (145). But such an understanding is difficult when the paradoxes reveal their irreconcilable and incomprehensible origins. Insecure about his baldness, Wings hands futilely