Winesburg Ohio In “Winesburg Ohio” by Sherwood Anderson, Anderson portrayed the theme about societal pressure and the way the characters try to discover the good part to their choices and lifestyles. In “Respectability”, “Hands”, and “Paper Pills” the characters try to find themselves even though societal pressure make these people constantly feel that them and their unique life styles have to change in the end they find a positive side to their unique lives. This compares the character’s internal conflict to their life choices and morals. “Winesburg Ohio” talks about the grotesque pasts and futures of these characters . In “Respectability” social constructs and “normal” societal standards make these characters aspire to be accepted even …show more content…
In Paper Pills Anderson associates love with ‘red and white’ like a lost of purity or how purity is tainted. Anderson also wrote about sexual encounters and experiences and how in our society the meanings are molded together. Seeing as though most people associate sexual encounters and experience with the word “love”. Even though sometimes relationships do not stay together, and on top of that there is not much sincerity in the word if it is associated with experiences and not the actual relationship. After all that love mostly seems like a word people just like to hear and the meaning of the word and the purity do not matter love is just what people want to hear. Just like in “Paper Pills” Doctor Reefy had experienced a middle aged tall, dark girl who was being courted by two men, one who talks about virginity and one who does not talk at all. She ends up marrying the torn up apple knot that is doctor Reefy, but he really symbolized the “nobodies perfect” he was not a cookie cutter. The paper pills were the things he would like to say to his deceased wife which was the woman who chose him instead of choosing sadness and eternity of purity and confinement. The standards of society were portrayed as symbolism through Doctor Reefy’s observations. The woman had the standards of the choice between the two men and she chose to not conform to those choices or