There are many different interpretations of the future of George Willard and his overall role in Winesburg, Ohio. One of these theories is that Anderson meant to imply that George Willard, after leaving Winesburg to go to the city, grow old to become the old writer in "The Book of the Grotesque" who introduced us to the grotesques. The two characters seem to serve a similar purpose and many of the experiences George Willard had in the novel seem to logically point him in the direction of the old writer.
The largest similarity between George and the old writer is their experience with the grotesque. In the "Book of the Grotesque", the old writer speaks of the countless of grotesques he sees and how to him some of them were beautiful. Throughout the story, George Willard speaks with many different grotesques in Winesburg and serve as almost of the record keeper of the stories of the grotesques as he writes the Winesburg newspaper.
Both George and the old writer have a deeper understanding of the grotesques than other members of society. The old writer appears to have the same deep understanding of the grotesque as George. In George's story, a number of characters seek him for understanding as they tell him the story of their grotesqueness. For example, in Loneliness, Enoch Robinson demanded a conversation with George Willard so that he could tell George the story of his past and how he has become the shell of what he once was. Also, George's conversation with Kate Swift in which she tells him to look into people and truly understand them perfectly captures what the old writer is able to do with the grotesques in the book he wrote but never published.
Unlike the grotesques of the novel, George and the old writer have within them a certain sense of sophistication and maturity as well as youth that preserves them from grotesqueness. In the stories of the grotesques, a sudden transformation from youthful innocence to forced maturity through betrayal or misfortune is almost ubiquitous. It is this sudden loss of youth that transforms the grotesque into their current state and that is what separates both George and the old writer from them. In "Sophistication", George undergoes a transformation process that resembles maturity but not fully. In their acceptance of mature life, George and Helen retain a part of their youthfulness, which makes them successful in avoiding grotesqueness.
The old writer, in "The Book of the Grotesque", is said to have in him a youth in the form of a young woman in a coat of mail that saves him from grotesqueness. The young woman in mail inside of the old man represents the caring and understanding but strong being that was once inside of him, mirroring the thing that is inside of George in the end of the novel. It is this young thing inside of George that saved him from the wretched soul-sucking effect the city seem to have on other Winesburg residents as he leaves Winesburg to begin the next phase of his life.
I also believe that George Willard is the old man in “The Book of The Grotesque.” He is present in every story of the novel and at some point interacts with each character the story focuses on. George Willard is a reporter for the town newspaper which significant because it means that he acts as a collector of information, and it is his job to re-tell people’s stories and lives, much like the old writer does in “The Book of The Grotesque.” In the story “Teacher,” Kate Swift pleads with George to know the people that he writes about rather than simply writing down what they tell him. He must know their stories and lives with a deeper understanding rather than what can be seen on the surface. Coincidently, the narrator describes the old writer in “The Book of The Grotesque” as having “known people, many people, known them in a peculiarly intimate way that was different from the way in which you and I know people.” (Anderson 4). The description the narrator gives us of the old man matches George’s ability to know people. Furthermore, the fact that George was in contact with many of Winesburg’s grotesques explains why the old writer knows so many people. The old writer is also described as having a young woman in a coat of mail inside him. “It was the young thing inside him that saved the old man.” (Anderson 6). Coincidently again, after his moment of maturity and sophistication with Helen White in the story “Sophistication,” George reverted back to a state of youth and innocence. He too had a young thing inside of him. The young thing in question (in addition to his maturity) arguably saved him from the disastrous effect the industrialized city life has on other Winesburg grotesques (such as Enoch Robinson). Therefore, both characters were saved by a very similar “young thing” inside of them, further indicating the possibility that George is the old writer. Now, you may ask, why does it matter? It matters because as a character, George Willard is crucial to the full understanding of the novel as a whole, rather than a set of separate stories. By being the old writer, he serves as the link that ties all the stories together and gives the work greater meaning. It is important to remember that the old writer (a.k.a. George Willard) wrote “The Book of The Grotesque,” which, as we discussed in class, is a composed of the remainder of the short stories in the novel. We can infer that a old George Willard, having experienced life and the industrialized world, has an impulse to “get out of bed” and re-tell his own story and those who contributed to his survival and ability to refrain from becoming a grotesque himself. The Book of the Grotesque could also be the book that Doctor Parcival asked George to write as he senses his end to be near. “If something happens perhaps you will be able to write the book that I may never get written” (Anderson 42). In either case, being aware that George is the old writer is crucial to understanding the novel and reveals the true meaning of the work as a whole.
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