ls of the world, thus making her “grotesque” and isolated. The fact that she is also described here as an “Old Woman” is somewhat significant, for she is in fact only forty year old. Because she is perceived this way, one can only assume that from the years of abuse and misery, it has twisted and distorted her outside appearance. “Her dreams couldn’t have been very pleasant. Not many pleasant things had happened to her.” (p.15). The event in this story that clearly illustrates the feeling of isolation in the small town, and especially the isolation the old woman had from it, is when her body is discovered in the woods. A town hunter had found the body, and upon reporting it to the Local sheriff, they walked into the woods to try to identify it. When the people got to where she was, no one could identify her, as if she was a complete stranger to the likes of the townspeople. “At that time no one knew who she was.” (p.21). This presents conclusive evidence of the isolation in which the old woman has lived in this town. It also exhibits Anderson’s portrayal of the “grotesque” and how even the townspeople are “grotesque” for not paying enough attention to their worlds. Anderson’s hunger to “see beneath the surface of human lives” is clearly illustrated in these two works. In Winesburg, the character of George Willard , on his quest to manhood, is an artist struggling to find the meaning of the world in which he lives. On this journey, he encounters many “grotesques” or distorted examples of human life, that enable George to break free from the isolation of Winesburg and venture out to live the life of what Anderson would consider to be “normal”. In George’s case, the isolation leads to creation, whereas in the townspeople, it leads to self-destruction. The story of “Ghost In The Woods...
