Biblical Allusions in Winesburg, Ohio

In the novel Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson recounts the stories of his childhood home incorporating Biblical allusions. The characters portray how the human spirit tends toward evil despite its best efforts. For example, in the chapter “Hands” Wing Biddlebaum offers love and affection toward his students for encouragement: “Here and there went his hands, caressing the shoulders of the boys, playing about the tousled heads” (Anderson 14). The love and affection displayed by Wing towards his students parallels the compassion of Jesus toward the less fortunate and needy like the poor widow and man with leprosy. Hands symbolize the character’s interaction with the world around them because the sensation of touch within the hands allows humans to know an object exists in reality. Wing uses his hands to interact with the students and express his affection; however, the townspeople display their discontent by running Wing out of town: “With lanterns in their hands a dozen men came to the door of the house where he lived alone and commanded that he dress and come forth” (Anderson 15). The dozen men from the town who arrive at Wing’s house represent the twelve disciples who betray Jesus before his crucifixion. The diction uses like “alone” suggests the lonely nature of Jesus at the time of his death when all his followers had left and the only companion Jesus had been God. In addition, Wing escapes to another town: “Upon the veranda of his house by the ravine, Wing Biddlebaum continued walking up and down…he cut slices of bread and spread honey upon them” (Anderson 16). The bread and honey incorporated alludes to the land of milk and honey of which the Israelites escaped out of the land of slavery under the guidance of God. Wing escapes out of the town of Winesburg of which the townspeople persecute against him for displaying his love toward his students too passionately. Finally, Wing performs an act of communion when he begins to “pick up the crumbs carrying them to his mouth one by one with unbelievable rapidity...dense blotch of light beneath the table” (17). Wing placing the bread in his mouth refers to the sacrament of communion, and the light symbolizes the influence of God reflecting down on God. The incorporation of Biblical allusions displays how the human spirit tends to doubt the individual when questioning the status quo. Wing expresses his love for his students but at an extreme level using diction like “caressing” causing alarm for the townspeople to eradicate Wing as a radical outsider. Jesus also like Wing preached religion to a new God from the Roman Empire, so the Roman political officials like Pontius Pilate felt their only choice to execute the radical and restore order. Both Jesus and Wing portray how society views the individual and radical ideas or actions as detrimental toward society and necessary for eradication. Society formulating judgmental decisions against the individual demonstrates how the human spirit tends to side toward evil judgments despite trying to assume the best of individuals like Wing.