the downfalls of Wing and a creature

Why are we so drawn to tragedy and violence?

From TV shows to video games, novels to movies, these two characteristics draw the attention of many individuals. Sure, there are pacifists and peacemakers, optimists and promoters of love, but they would never have been drawn to peace and happiness hadn't there been war and sadness. Only once the effects and emotions of conflict became known have these individuals yearned for halcyon. 

While reading Winesburg, Ohio, I can honestly say I was instantly drawn to the stories in which some violent, tragic event took place. I did get a rush from analyzing seemingly innocent passages and finding hidden meanings behind them -- Wash Williams and his garden? Hell-ooo, fertility symbolism! -- but I was most interested in the cataclysms of the work, specifically those of Wing Biddlebaum.

Within "Hands," we learn of Wing and his tragic backstory as a school teacher. Accused of touching his children, he is physically beaten by one of the fathers of the students he taught; "tired of beating the master, [he] had begun to kick him about the yard" (Anderson 32). Even more sickening, Wing is attacked by angry townspeople, "throwing sticks and great balls of soft mud" (Anderson 33). His fear and weakness were fuels for the townspeople, who continue to torment him until he is eventually driven out of the town. 

This portion of the story greatly resembles one of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which Frankenstein's creature is chased out of a village. Just as in "Hands," the creature was attacked, "grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons" (Shelley 74). The creature, grossly misunderstood, is unable to reveal his docile nature as a result of his disfigured appearance; on the other hand, Wing is misunderstood, and although he's able to express his quiet character, he chooses not to. 

So why is it that the creature chooses to act out while Wing remains closed off?

Perhaps it is because the creature has never experienced the love associated with a parent, with a partner, or with a friend. His attempts to find a companion failed; his struggles to communicate with others were met with disdain; his deeds of kindness were not returned. Having received only hate and never love, the creature became consumed with this hatred that triggered an impulse to lash out.

In Wing's case, he has the experience of a schoolteacher to tell him what it's like to be loved. Leading up to his horrifying escape from town, Wing was "much loved by the boys of his school" (Anderson 31); he has significant knowledge of expressing love and receiving that love in return. It was the sudden violent acts against him that led Wing to doubt himself, to believe that he had lost the love he had once treasured dearly. With this belief, he begins to hide his major means of expressing love: his hands. 

The tragic downfalls of Wing Biddlebaum and Frankenstein's creature are not dissimilar; they both made decisions that would either hide or eliminate the love they had within themselves. It's these decisions that makes me so interested in them. I wonder if their lives would've been so marred with tragedy and violence had they not made these decisions.

it may not always be so; and i say

it may not always be so; and i say
e.e. cummings

it may not always be so; and i say
that if your lips, which i have loved, should touch
another's, and your dear strong fingers clutch
his heart, as mine in time not far away;
if on another's face your sweet hair lay
in such silence as i know, or such
great writhing words as, uttering overmuch, 
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;


if this should be, i say if this should be--
you of my heart, send me a little word;
that i may go unto him, and take his hands,
saying, Accept all happiness from me.
Then shall i turn my face, and hear one bird
sing terribly afar in the lost lands.


In e.e. cummings' "it may not always be so; and i say," the narrator seems to be contemplating his fear of the unknown. The main issue of the poem could be the strength of the relationship between the narrator and his lover; he appears worried that his lover will eventually leave him for another, but despite knowing this potential fate, he will continue to love his partner.

The organization of the poem depicts how strongly the narrator feels towards his lover. Overall, the poem is listing future actions the narrator's lover may do with another, and the narrator concludes that he will "go unto him, and take his hands, / saying, Accept all happiness from me" (lines 11-12). However, immediately after this, he talks of turning a face, a sign that he isn't actually accepting of the situation. As one turns his or her face from a lover, it's usually because of an expression that would betray his or her actual emotions. It could be assumed, therefore, that the narrator, despite his actions, may never recover from the idea that his lover will leave him. He nevertheless sacrifices his own happiness for his lover's, hiding his own dissatisfaction in an attempt to appear optimistic for the future.

Specifically with "if your lips, which i have loved, should touch / another's, and your dear strong fingers clutch / his heart" (lines 2-4), the narrator seem detached from this "other" individual. The placement of "another's" and "his heart" in separate lines could represent the division the narrator feels from his lover; it could symbolize his hesitance towards the idea that there's "another" with whom his lover could fraternize. Just as an individual would pause when questioning the future of the relationship between his or her lover, the narrator pauses, somewhat uncomfortably, at the thought of another lover. 

Unfortunately, it's impossible to precisely predict what will happen in the future. "i may go unto him" (line 11) represents the narrator's hope that he will do this, not that he will do it. Just as he fears his lover leaving him, he also fears his inability to cope with the situation. Throughout the poem, the narrator constantly uses "if" statements, only acting certain when he mentions that he shall "turn [his] face, and hear one bird / sing terribly afar in the lost lands" (lines 13-14). Although their future is indefinite, the narrator is confident that he would wallow in depression should his lover leave him. 

Because of the uncertainty of future outcomes, cummings could be arguing that thinking of the future is a trivial matter. The narrator of the poem seems immersed in love at the present time, only evoking sadness when he speaks of the future. Why should he spend time thinking about what could happen when he could be enjoying the time that he is spending with his lover? All relationships will eventually come to an end, whether it be through a split or through death; if the narrator concerns himself with this forthcoming end, he won't be able to find happiness in the present. 

with all due respect

Andrew Wyeth, Christina's World, 1948

re·spect·a·ble

ri' spektəbəl
regarded by society to be good, proper, or correct; of some merit or importance

What does it mean to be respectable, or to have respectability? In Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, the concept of respectability is questionable. 

Within the work, Wash Williams, the telegraph operator of Winesburg, was a man of respect: "When Wash walked through the streets such a one had an instinct to pay him homage, to raise his hat or to bow before him" (Anderson 122). These actions resembled those conducted for a man or woman of high status, or having a quality that ranks them deserving of reverence. However, Wash is also associated with "a huge, grotesque kind of monkey, a creature with ugly, sagging, hairless skin below his eyes and a bright purple underbody" (Anderson 121). Despite being described as extremely ugly and dirty, he is also said to be courageous, as well as the best telegraph operator in the state. In this case, Wash's respectability is based on his confidence and his skillful abilities rather than his appearance. 

It appears that Wash has two different ideas of respectability. As he narrates his falling-out with his wife, his words make it seem as though he's lost respect for her: "'...I didn't want to touch them or her. I just sent her home to her mother and said nothing. There was nothing to say'" (Anderson 126). She was not, therefore, what would be determined as "good, proper, or correct." However, despite this, he treated her like a victim of the circumstance. It was clear that he felt lonely and betrayed after his wife had cheated on him, but he also tried to take all the blame off of her: "'I hated the men I thought had wronged her'" (Anderson 127). Instead of getting angry of her actions, he actually paid her all his savings and the money for the house. In addition, he became aggressive against her mother instead of her. Disregarding her affairs, Wash seemed to still hold some sort of respect or deference for her.

The only time that respect was explicitly included in the "Respectability" story was when Wash was at his wife's house: "'I sat in the parlor of that house two hours... Their house was stylish. They were what is called respectable people. There were plush chairs and a couch in the room" (Anderson 126). Respectability at this point of the story has a more superficial feel than previous implications. Wash described them as "respectable" simply by their home, or by their appearance of being "respectable". This could also be similar to the meaning of "sophistication" in the story entitled "Sophistication." Within that story, George Williard was concerned of acting sophisticated and manly in front of Helen White, even though it made him act in a manner that was unnatural and phony. In fact, the definition of sophisticate is "to make impure, adulterate; to cause to become less natural." Despite their appearances of sophistication, both George and Helen were both still young and wild, eventually regressing to "excited little animals" (Anderson 242). The concepts of respectability and sophistication within Anderson's work are treated as superficial qualities, only associated with individuals who act fake.

a Tintern of events

Benjamin Williams Leader Paintings, Tintern Abbey, 1831-1923

          The sounding cataract
Haunted him like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to him
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrow'd from the eye.


In this passage from Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey, the narrator recalls how he felt about nature when he was younger. According to him, nature no longer interests him as an "appetite" needed to be satisfied. Appetite can be defined as an instinctive physical desire, a strong wish or urge. However, his words are hypocritical to how he described nature as a boy.

Earlier in the poem, he had mentioned how his ventures into nature were "more like a man flying from something that he dreads, than one who sought the thing he loved" (Wordsworth 71-73). Nature when he was younger, therefore, was more of an escape than a place of desire. Even as he grew older and mature, Wordsworth began to immerse himself into nature in an attempt to realize his own sense of self, allowing nature to serve as a protective barrier. He described nature as "the anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, the guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul of all my moral being" (Wordsworth 110-112). 

Shelley's characters in Frankenstein were largely influenced by nature. The passage from Tintern Abbey was specifically quoted when Frankenstein and Clerval were traveling down the Rhine; Frankenstein was bothered by his task to create a female counterpart for his creation, and Clerval was fascinated by the landscape and scenery surrounding him. However, Clerval was enjoying nature not as a means of escape but rather out of admiration for the setting: "'This is what it is to live,' he cried; 'now I enjoy existence!'" (Shelley 112). As for Frankenstein, his interest in his friend's reaction towards the natural world acted as an escape; his friend's delight allowed Frankenstein to momentarily forget the stressful situation he was in. 

Following the passage of the poem, Wordsworth spoke of how that time was past, "and all its aching joys are now no more, and all its dizzy raptures" (Wordsworth 85-86). It's difficult to understand whether it's the present or the past that the narrator finds more favorable; despite equating nature to love, he also characterized it as having "aching joys." I believe that the joys are aching because they're reminders of simpler times, back when Wordsworth still had his innocence and youth. In a way, this could be equal to the memories Frankenstein had of his friend while they were traveling down the Rhine. As those days were the days he was happiest yet they reminded him of the last days he spent with Clerval, his memories could be described as "aching joys" as well.

Tintern Abbey as a whole was a story focusing on external nature versus internal nature, where the focus shifted from the physical aspects of the natural world to the hidden meaning and significance of it all. In relation to Frankenstein, this conflict between external and internal is similar to the characteristics of both Frankenstein and his creation and the war they have concerning their outward appearances and their inner desires.