The story with George Willard and Belle Carpenter let us the reader to be able to contextualize George’s awakening when we witness his encounters with Belle and how he is driven from life. Belle’s relationship with Ed Handby is unsure so she uses George to relieve her sexual repression. George again serves as a medium for Ed because he gives Ed an obstacle to focus on. Ed believes that Belle for some reason or another is the right girl for him. Belle uses George to make Ed jealous. Thus although George’s awakening came to no good end for him, he is a medium for expression which allows Belle and Ed to come together by the end. His realization that the world is based on order and that he too must become aligned with the world is pivotal for him. George realizes he is a creature of the world and must work among its rules. When an adolescent acknowledges his greater place in the universe and his need to grow along with it, is a universal theme of maturation.
Kate Swift’s profession is one, which requires that she relay information to people on a daily basis. She is responsible for their attaining knowledge. In this manner, she symbolizes a medium of communication in much the same way as George Willard does. Their parallel roles place George in a different light to Kate. She sees him as a genius. He seems like a genius to her is because of away in which he was able to use words. Words speak to her communicate to her through George Willard. The time the two are standing together as Kate tries to impress George with the difficulty of becoming a writer is described as lyrically, a passer-by might have thought them about to embrace. The scene becomes a love scene because of the influence of language and the artistry of words. Kate told George he must not become a mere peddler of words. The thing to learn is to know what people are thinking about, not what they say. She is voicing the problem, which had come about because of the isolation and disillusionment of modern man. Words are artifice unless they express the inner being of man. Kate is looking to George to share her hunger for life and language but she does not know how to tell him explicitly. As the conclusion of modern communal bonds grew, Kate’s passion becomes transformed into a physical desire to satisfy her loneliness. However, in her loneliness, she grasps for George absolutely and for the wrong reasons. Kate symbolizes the message of truth. George is unable to make the mental leap from self to the universal and misses her message. Though a medium, he is not released from being a boy.
Doctor Parcival took a liking to George. Doctor Parcival told George tales of himself and how he had been a reporter like George in some unknown town. To George the tales were very real and full of meaning. George began to admire Doctor Parcival. He looked forward with keen interest to the doctor’s coming. George at times thought the tales from Doctor Parcival were all lies. Then he was convinced that they were the very essence of truth. Doctor Parcival spoke about George’s attitude towards men and would goad him to feel hatred and contempt for others, in order to become a superior being and to substantiate his lectures he always gave the example of his own brother. Doctor Parcival even wishes to transfer his notions onto George. Whenever possible, Doctor Parcival voices his opinion to George, who is a quiet listener. Doctor Parcival is warped by his own ideas and philosophies and at the decisive moment, he is unable to handle his emotions.
Wing Biddlebaum has lived in Winesburg, Ohio for twenty years, and still does not consider himself a part of it. He is close to only one boy, George Willard. Only with George, would Wing open up and talk for hours on any subject. In the presence of George, Wing loses his timid ness. George is fascinated by Wing’s hands and feels that there must be a reason to his fascination. George’s curiosity about Wing’s past is strong yet he never attempts to probe into it. This gives a glimpse into his mental frame when he unconsciously caresses George while deep in discussion with him. George’s character in this story is not yet revealed, though he does come across as an honest, upright young man, with an open view towards all.
George knows death is inevitable and he is taunted by its gloomy calling. When George sees his mother’s dead body lying underneath the sheet he does not want to believe that is her. George Knows that death is a part of life but is not ready to accept it for himself. It is hard for any young man or woman to accept a parent dying. This does not make George any different. George does go on and learn to accept the fact that his mother has passed. George knowing that death is inevitable makes him look at life in a different direction. Not only does this show his maturation throughout but he learns to adapt and move on with his life. There is not much left for George in Winesburg. He has played an important part in all the townspeople’s lives. Now it is time for him to move on and grow into the manhood he as always strived. Not only has George been an asset to the people of Winesburg but also he has learned a lot from his educators, the women of Winesburg and from the many townspeople. George has no regrets and will be an asset to the new town he moves.
As this paper ends the development of George Willard has been expressed. George Willard has an intense craving to be different from other men. Willard realizes that unless he does something to change the course that his life is taking, he will never be a great man in anyone’s eyes. He likens the transition into sophistication to a deep mood that takes over. It sweeps over his whole being and completely encompasses all of his thoughts and actions. George Willard realizes and aches over the time limitations placed on his ambition. He intends to journey to a major city and get a job at a newspaper. He hopes that his feelings of immaturity will be erased by his importance there. Although it is not much, it is vital to him that he finds something to be remembered and admired. As George Willard looks at his meaningless life and his bleak surroundings, fresh ideas, new ambitions, oppressing sorrows and lonely thought play with his mind, trying desperately to overcome him.