How am I going to name all of these?

This week we talked about how hands and sophistication go hand in hand. We discovered that certain words are used continuously throughout the stories to show unity and shifts in the characters feelings and actions. The word “hands” was used a lot as well as woman and man. Alone, death, and dream were used frequently too. In the series of stories, there is definitely the whole gender roles thing taking place in these stores. What I noticed most was that the characters were all so alone. I remember the part where Alice runs naked and freely through the rain. Alice, in this moment, represented the “young” of the stories. She was wild and free. Happy. When she entered the house again she was faced with “the fact that many people must live and die alone, even in Winesburg” In Winesburg, everyone is alone, even with the town of people surrounding them. The whole “city” is secluded. They have all those people but its all to close to change and develop. They are lonely because they have been with the same people forever. It can take a persons entire lifetime to get out. Once they do, they are just like everyone else. Tom talks about how he had seen many Georges “go out of the towns to the big city” By this, he means he has seen many people full of ambition get out but he’s thinking – How many of them actually succeed?

In Sophistication, at the end of the story it says “Man or boy, woman or girl, they had for a moment taken hold of the thing that makes the mature life of men and women in the modern world possible.” I see a shift in the usage of man and boy and woman or girl. There never was man and woman. There was always boy and woman or girl and man. Andrea pointed this out and I just wanted to elaborate because I hadn’t noticed this the first time around. I think here is where men and women are seen completely equal. Like they are just one beautiful thing, not two separates.

In the seminar we were talking about Wing being a molester vs. Wing as a Christ figure. I feel that he is more of a Christ figure because of that passage where he is picking up crumbs and kneeling near the light. I do not think that when he touches people’s heads it is meant to be uncomfortable, I think he means it to be quite the opposite. I think it is supposed to bring forth a sense of security and comfort.  He’s a teacher just like Jesus. He tells kids to prosper and that it is too late for him but it is not too late for them. He wants the best for the kids. Indexing has really helped me see how carefully writers choose their words. It compels me to experiment with it some in poetry and short story.