Following the Industrial Revolution and urbanization in the United States and Europe, places like Dublin, Ireland and Winesburg, Ohio would find themselves on opposite sides of the spectrum as geographical size, population and industrial production. However, Sherwood Anderson and James Joyce share many similar techniques in painting a grim picture of life in their respective works of Winesburg, Ohio and Dubliners. The titles of both works are very misleading as they boldly suggest that the book is a portrait of the lives of people residing in Dublin and Winesburg in the 1910s. True, both depict certain aspects of life that only apply to small or large cities or something more specific like Irish nationalism, but they are irrelevant when comparing what is undoubtedly the most fascinating feature of both collections, namely the psychology of the characters. While all of the statements made about small-town and city life are valid, as they come from the author's own life, neither work is written with the sole intent of representing a specific region of the world or a certain type of city. The point in both books is that the authors transcribe the characters' feelings and emotions when placed in these bizarre, often tragic and downright disturbing scenarios. They present life as it is, not at all diluted due to the fear of presenting a poor image. Aside from the shock value of the books, they share some other similarities in form, style, and themes. As short story collections, both are extremely significant for their stylistic innovation and rebellion against conventional short story forms. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One of these new features was to create characters in their stories that seemed to go against the grain of society, so to speak. In Winesburg, Anderson calls them grotesque in the prologue, although he gives a very vague description of what they actually are. Joyce does not label these characters, but inserts characters similar to Anderson's grotesques into the Dubliners stories, and they are always at the center of the story or have a profound effect on the main character. It is important to note that, as Anderson says, "the grotesques were not all horrible" (Anderson 5), and what he means is that they often lead lives that seem perfectly normal, yet within they have a burning passion. for something that will inevitably remain unsatisfied. Others, due to some traumatic or concrete event in their past, are controlled by emotions that cause them to exhibit behavior that the reader conceives of as outrageous by all moral and social standards. In both cases the character demonstrates a fascinating psychology. They seem to be motivated by a fixation on an idea, or by something from the past that they can't get out of their mind, or by a desire in life that will inevitably go unfulfilled. From time to time in Dubliners, much will remain unknown about these grotesques, if I may now apply the term to certain characters in Dubliners, who embody the former. Sometimes Joyce doesn't provide background on these characters, while Anderson usually manages to provide a thorough description of what makes these characters who they are. But enough generalising; Let's now look at some specific examples and see what makes these grotesques so unique, what motivates them psychologically, and what is so disturbing about their behaviors. Anderson and Joyce both present very early on one of society's most alarming taboos, still a big problem today especially with the recent scandals in the priesthood, which ispedophilia. Authors of the early Romantic period and earlier would be reluctant to even mention such a twisted and controversial topic, but following Freudian psychology and a renewed interest in sexual desires, modernist writers were eager to portray the taboo side of sex. Anderson writes, in "Hands," of his first grotesque, Wing Biddlebaum. Accused of molesting a "half-wit boy," Wing, then known as Adolph Myers, was run out of town after other students reported how Myers would run his fingers through their hair. It is a depressing first tale, as Myers appears to have been an excellent, if rather affectionate, teacher, but due to the paranoia of others he became a recluse for the rest of his days, "forever frightened and besieged by a ghostly band of doubts " (Anderson 9). Even though he never committed the crime he was accused of, everyone from his past sees him as a sex offender and a homosexual. Even though years have passed since the incident, Wing does not associate with anyone, most likely out of fear that they know or even want to know about his past. Since Wing never actually committed any acts of pedophilia, Anderson is making more of a statement about the overt concern "with homosexual panic and the privilege of self-confident heterosexual men to mark and brutalize those who differ in appearance, manner in speech and behavior". (Yingling 115). So Wing in this case is conceived as grotesque because he appears to be different (sexually) from the others. He is a grotesque in Winesburg due to his inability to function socially within the town. Ray Lewis White attributes this to the fact that “self-ignorance and public stupidity have destroyed the good that Wing Biddlebaum could have given to a world already starved of intellect and inspiration” (White 58). Similarly, the second Dubliners story features an unnamed character, obviously twisted with desire for young children. “An Encounter” culminates with the story's narrator and his friend Mahoney sitting in a field having a seemingly normal conversation with a strange, old man. The man apologizes and they watch him as Mahoney says, "I say! Look what he's doing!" and "I say... He's a weird old josser!" (Joyce 20). Joyce leaves it up to us to choose what he actually does, but from what Mahoney says and the conversation that follows about the old man's love of whipping children, one might assume that he is gratifying himself in front of these young people. Although Joyce gives us little information about the man, he is the grotesque part of this story as he is obviously a sexual anomaly. While almost everyone would agree that what the characters desire (or seem to desire) is very wrong, these characters exhibit sexual repression, and this theme is important in many other stories as well. The similarities to other grotesques in each book will be discussed again, but let us now turn to some major themes of psychological motivation that can often be applied to these grotesques. One major theme that cannot easily be overlooked in both collections is that of escape. The feeling of being trapped, both geographically and emotionally during a relationship, recurs time after time, and is often the cause of the grotesque's twisted personality. At the beginning of Winesburg, Anderson tells of George Willard's mother, Elizabeth, the owner's evidently grotesque daughter, made so partly by physical illness, and also by some deep-rooted emotional frustrations. She is obsessed with death, especially her own, as if she felt it approaching. More importantly, as a young woman Elizabeth dreamed of escaping Winesburg to join a theater companytraveling and seeing the world. This, of course, never happened, but Anderson suggests that she would sleep with neat travelers and share her fantasies with them, and they would only tell her that their life "[is] as boring and uninteresting as this one here" , referring to his life in Winesburg (Anderson 31). She hates her husband, Tom, who "defeated" her by marrying and taking over the hotel, leaving her desires unfulfilled. Her grotesqueness really shines through when she becomes obsessed with not leaving himGeorge fails like her, in love with her idea of ​​leaving home because she feels she will be able to live through him. From the way Anderson describes him, it seems like he wants George to succeed more out of spite towards Tom than anything else. This need for geographical escape is also evident in Dubliners. The aforementioned kids in "An Encounter" have a youthful sense of adventure and long for an escape from school as the year comes to a close. In “Eveline,” Eveline struggles with the idea of ​​running away, as it will mean giving up caring for her elderly father. Escape is used differently here than in Elizabeth Willard, as Eveline is torn between her need to escape Dublin with her new husband, Frank, and her devotion to her father. It is clear throughout the narrative that she is struggling with what the right thing to do is. Ultimately, she becomes grotesque as the struggle in her mind proves too strong for her to behave so definitively, and she stays. There is a simile used here: “She stared her face at him, passive, like a helpless animal” (Joyce 36). She is like a helpless animal because by her own thoughts she is overcome with fear so badly that it paralyzes her and she walks away unable to do anything (Riquelme 76). Escape is also used in both of these works in a more metaphorical sense, as in wanting to escape the reality of the past and what it has become. Alice Hindman presents an interesting case in "Adventure." She shows incredible faith in her lost lover, Ned Currie, even though she knows he will never return. She is fixated on her past relationship, but desperately wants to escape from it. Because it is too late to leave Ned, his need to escape results in his bizarre behavior. Her stripping naked makes her seem reborn, as if she has escaped her old life to start over. By calling any man around to "go with" her, she is finally escaping her relationship with Ned. Seth Richmond, "The Thinker", is trapped in a world of isolation, unable to express himself adequately. Even when he opens up to Helen White, she continues to reject him. We leave him convinced that "when it comes to loving someone, it will never be me. It will be someone else, some fool, someone who talks a lot..." (Anderson 137). “A Little Cloud” in Dubliners features the character of Little Chandler, who is frustrated with every aspect of his life and desperately wants an escape. Meeting childhood friend, Gallagher, who is on a business trip from London, for a drink, Little Chandler can't help but compare the two's lives. Although Little Chandler is superior to Gallagher in education and upbringing, clearly Gallagher has been more successful. The idea of ​​physical escape is mentioned when Chandler informs his friend that he has never traveled beyond the Isle of Man. However, as the story draws to a close, it seems that Chandler feels more trapped by his marriage and family life . He refers to marriage as “putting your head in the bag” and seems to regret doing it himself (Joyce 79). Everything falls apart when Chandler comes home with his usual domestic problems; he forgot his wife's coffee and now his baby won't stop crying. In a moment full of frustration and clarity, Chandler yells at the child; Thechild stops for a moment, then cries even more. When his wife picks up the baby and calms him down, little Chandler starts to cry too. In this story, little Chandler wants to escape because he hates his life. His dream of becoming a famous poet will remain unfulfilled while Gallagher is now a famous journalist, due to the fact that he left Dublin. Chandler never ran away, but now he longs to escape the life that has become his. He regrets getting married and also wishes to escape that relationship; in the end he takes it out on the innocent child. Many other examples of escape occur in both works, but for reasons of space we move on to the theme of mortality, or more specifically the search for life in death. Although at times in Dubliners and Winesburg it may seem as if time has stood still, the characters remind us that time inevitably marches forward with their fixation on death. Death is often the only escape route from the alienation of the characters, who therefore find life in death. Elizabeth Willard, as we have already seen, knows that she will die soon with her dreams unfulfilled. Even as she gets a taste of a new romance with Doctor Reefy, she embraces death, as she passes with "her lovers Death and Doctor Reefy held in her arms. Jesse Bentley, in "Godness," has a fixation on finding life in death. in a more biblical, decidedly grotesque sense, he was ready to sacrifice his nephew, David Hardy, to satisfy a religious passion within himself, thus finding life in David's death, after having seen death. in the face in the form of his his grandfather, runs away, never to return. Finally, Enoch Robinson has a twisted brush with death when he gives up his world of imaginary friends to get married because he "began to feel lonely and touch the flesh and the real meat. "boning people with his hands" (Anderson 169). This virtually erases his imaginary world to live a more conformist life with his wife and children. His longing for his past world ultimately proves too much, and motivated by this Enoch banishes his family, only to find that his old friends are gone forever too. In Dubliners, mortality is an issue from the first story, "The Sisters". The deceased priest was a friend of the young narrator, and shows the indelible impression that death leaves on young people. The story demonstrates life in death in two ways. First, there is an unmistakable transition from old to young since the narrator is a child and Father Flynn was an old man. His death is replaced by the narrator's youth. Additionally, the way the sisters talk about Father Flynn's bizarre behavior after his death gives him new life as the narrator will never remember him the same again after hearing about him "sitting alone in the dark in his confessional." .. .laughing softly to himself” (Joyce 11). Another beautiful example of life in death is in the story "The Dead", the final story of Dubliners, which will connect to another similarity, which is the end of both books. At the end of "The Dead," Gabriel Conroy is grappling with a number of feelings, primarily how The Lass of Aughrim affected his wife, Gretta, and the reason behind it. He was initially angry at his wife for being so passionate about a past relationship, until he finds out that her lover died years ago. He is relieved, but sentimentalizes her. He cries when he realizes how much he loves Gretta, and as the snow falls outside he considers his "journey west" (Joyce 236). This can be interpreted as death, or as the continuation of life, just as when Michael Furey died, he allowed Gretta to find Gabriel. In Winesburg, George Willard is leaving on a westbound train to begin his life in a big one. 99-125.