Life In Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio

Sherwood Anderson was a troubled man, famous for the creation of the 20th-century novel Winesburg, Ohio. While the majority of critics focused solely on the book, there were a considerable number of critics that related Anderson’s iconic novel to his life and view on small-town living, sparking debates about whether he loved small-town life, or whether he hated small-town life. Regardless, Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio reflects early 20th century small-town life, Anderson’s anti-religious beliefs, and Anderson’s episodes of dazed wandering.
Anderson was born in Camden, Ohio on September 13th of 1876, to Emma Anderson (mother) and Irwin Anderson (father). He had five siblings. His family moved frequently until they settled down in Clyde,

He prioritized work over school, so his attendance was uneven, even when Anderson was in elementary school. At the age of 17, Anderson dropped out of high school. He worked at a livery stable, and then a bicycle factory, working to support his family (Verde 17). Author Irving Howe recounts the Anderson family's labor habits: "To increase the family income and perhaps also to provide it with a base more stable than did her husband, Emma began to take in washing. 'I always remember keenly,' Sherwood was to write, 'a kind of shame that began to grow in the breasts of us children when we were sent off to bear home baskets of dirty clothes or to return them washed and ironed.' But while intermittently difficult, the family's economic condition was seldom desperate. William Sutton, the scholar on whose doctoral study of Anderson's early life all his biographers must lean, has discovered a photograph of the Anderson family, taken in the late 1880's, which shows the children dressed in good clothes--Sunday clothes no doubt but still evidence that there was enough money to have Sunday clothes" (14). As David D. Anderson describes

For example, Sherwood Anderson narrates Alice’s thoughts on fidelity from an omniscient point of view: “'I am his wife and shall remain his wife whether he comes back or not,' she whispered to herself, and for all of her willingness to support herself could not have understood the growing modern idea of a woman's owning herself and giving and taking for her own ends in life” (114-115). The late 1800’s and early 1900’s were a historic point of change in society’s beliefs about women, making the reader able to infer that this book was written around that time period/era based off of the quote provided. Anderson details Elizabeth Willard’s fears about her son’s safety: "when the transient guests...had become scarce...lighted only by kerosene lamps...plunged in gloom, Elizabeth Willard had an adventure....She was alarmed...shaking with exaggerated fears....breathed with difficulty....she thought how foolish she was. 'He is concerned with boyish affairs,' she told herself. 'Perhaps he has now begun to walk about in the evening with girls'" (42). These lines could seem normal to a reader that purchased the book in the mid-1900’s, but to a modern reader, these lines almost seem comical. Anderson phrases a contemporary idea in a way that makes it perfectly understandable solely to the older