Winesburg, Ohio Lit Circles Live- "Adventure"

It’s definitely been made evident to me that Winesburg, Ohio is surely not a book that should be judged by its cover (which can actually be scrutinized as well). In other words, Anderson does not construct this novel to be interpreted with nonchalance and indifference, but rather with immense inquiry. With that said, after re-reading “Adventure” I am surprised to find so many literary elements that I failed to recognize the first time around. Anderson’s is most certainly not the simplest or most clear-cut novel that ever existed, but rather it possesses some underlying fundamental qualities that render it applicable to all aspects of human nature. Likewise, “Adventure” is one of the stories in the novel that exhibits some principal elements that inherently exist within all human beings, despite our differences.

 

Alice Hindman’s story illuminates Anderson’s theories, as exemplified by the old man in “The Book of the Grotesque,” of various life-contesting truths that occupy Alice’s mind and manifest the true grotesqueness of her character in this story. Thus, like many of Anderson’s other grotesque characters in the novel, the truths that trap Alice inside her own mind expose her grotesque soul, which is noticeably marked by ludicrous or incongruous distortion. In “Adventure,” Alice’s tendency to limit her own opportunities due to her child-like adamancy and tenacity gradually intensifies over time as she ultimately severs her ties with the world around her. In her own delusions, Alice becomes completely immersed in the absurd fantasy that she concocts of a picture-perfect life with Ned Currie, whom has left Winesburg to seek his fortune in Cleveland. Initially, Alice falls for Ned because she is so eager and restless to discover what she assumed to be love, to the point that the “outer crust of her life, all of her natural diffidence and reserve, was torn away and she gave herself over to the emotions of love” (Anderson 94). Her unnatural response to Ned’s affection indicates that she is clearly over-indulged in this ephemeral romantic affair with Ned Currie.

 

In Alice’s mind, the lines between dream and reality are blurred as she envisions a truth that plagues her mind and blinds her from the reality in front of her. Her reluctance to encounter other suitable men in Winesburg after Ned’s departure further embodies Alice’s unwillingness to accept the harsh reality of her situation. In her desperation to be with Ned and no other man, Alice is blinded by her “dreams of saving money so that the interest would support both herself and her future husband [Ned]” (Anderson 96), making her a grotesque. Essentially, she becomes so enveloped in her own little world, much like Alice in Wonderland, that she neglects to realize that she truly seeks love and revitalization from her monotonous life of misery and loneliness.

By succumbing to her unrealistic expectations of love and romance, Alice is blinded by what she perceives is the truth about life. Instead of liberating herself from these confining thoughts, she becomes adhered to the idea of living a long and fulfilling life with Ned, which further dug her into an abysmal hole of long-lasting loneliness, which could have been prevented. She becomes so caught up in this impossible truth that she does not realize that her dreams to be with Ned will never ensue, thus rendering them falsehoods and making Alice a grotesque.