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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

“`A Secret Something That is Striving to Grow’”: Sherwood Anderson's Collage of Changing American Families in Winesburg, Ohio

Berilla-Macdonald, Jamie M
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1431456269

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio has received its share of criticism and sometimes condemnation for its depiction of small town life in a fictional Ohio town. Although Anderson’s characterizations of gender and use of biblical allusions have already been widely examined, I build upon scholarship specifically in these areas to apply those findings to reading the work in the context of families. Anderson presents the extended, agrarian, and strongly patriarchal Bentley family as an illogical family structure for the increasingly industrialized nation. Similarly, the many one parent families in the town are also often inadequate for the characters, with boys lacking father figures and girls lacking mother figures. George Willard and Helen White stand out as exceptions to these family structures, since both characters have a small nuclear family with both parents present. Although Anderson by no means upholds this as a perfect situation, it appears as comparatively the most reasonable choice for the modern world. Anderson also provides the possibility for going in new directions altogether by the inclusion of George and Helen’s “sophisticated” but still malleable relationship.
Adam Sonstegard, PhD (Committee Chair)
Ted Lardner, PhD (Committee Member)
Gary Dyer, PhD (Committee Member)
51 p.
American Literature; Biblical Studies; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Individual and Family Studies; Modern Literature; Personal Relationships; Religion
Sherwood Anderson; Anderson; Winesburg; Winesburg, Ohio; Families; Gender; Biblical

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Berilla-Macdonald, J. M. (2015). “`A Secret Something That is Striving to Grow’”: Sherwood Anderson's Collage of Changing American Families in Winesburg, Ohio [Master's thesis, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1431456269

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Berilla-Macdonald, Jamie. “`A Secret Something That is Striving to Grow’”: Sherwood Anderson's Collage of Changing American Families in Winesburg, Ohio . 2015. Cleveland State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1431456269.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Berilla-Macdonald, Jamie. "“`A Secret Something That is Striving to Grow’”: Sherwood Anderson's Collage of Changing American Families in Winesburg, Ohio ." Master's thesis, Cleveland State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1431456269

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

csu1431456269
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This open access ETD is published by Cleveland State University and OhioLINK.
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