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.

Theme in A Passage to India

Throughout A Passage to India, E.M. Forster incorporates cultural tension between the British imperialist and native Indians. The character foil between Adela Quested and Dr. Aziz demonstrates how the differences in environments between Great Britain and India create a divide between Mrs. Quested and Dr. Aziz. The author uses the cultural divide between the Indian natives and British to emphasize the theme that cultures are shaped by their environment. Mrs. Moore continually emphasizes how the landscape of India differs from that of Great Britain: "In England, the moon has seemed dead and alien; here she was caught in the shawl of night together with earth and all the other stars...She did not dislike Cousin Kate or the National Anthem, but their note had died into a new one" (Forster 28-29). The author includes imagery of a sari (Indian dressing for females) through the use of "shawl" to symbolize Indian culture. Forster portrays how the moon is a mutual celestial body for both India and England but the landscape differences between the two countries causes Mrs. Moore to change her perspective of the moon. Even just the change in landscape between India and England triggers Mrs. Moore to reevaluate her cultural ties. The author demonstrates how Mrs. Moore merely changing her geographic questions irks her to question her English culture; therefore, geography or the environment influenced Mrs. Moore's cultural affiliations presenting how cultures are influenced by the environment. In addition, Dr. Aziz describes how the rugged environment shapes Indian culture: "'Because India is part of the earth. And God has put us on the earth in order to be pleasant to each other. God...is...love'" (Forster 53). Aziz uses the terrain of the planet to create his perception of religion as India a gift from God; India a sanctuary for men to love each other. If Aziz had lived in the Sahara Desert with a desolate location and dry, arid climate, Aziz would have a different perception of God and religion, but because of the beautiful landscape of India, Aziz finds comfort spiritually in India. The author presents how Aziz builds his perception of religion based on the landscape around him. Finally, Forster blatantly states how the land helps formulate the divide between men: "Experiences, not character, divided them; they were not dissimilar, as humans go; indeed, when compared with the people who stood nearest to them in point of space they became practically identical" (Forster 91). Because the Englishwomen and Dr. Aziz shared the same environment and therefore similar experiences the two cultures merge together to create one new identity. Despite the Englishwomen and Aziz coming from different countries with totally different landscapes, the characters come together over mutual experience in the same environment of Chandrapore, India. In conclusion, the author uses the cultural contrasts between the Englishwomen and Aziz to demonstrate how environment shapes cultures. Forster no only contrasts English and Indian cultures but also how when placed together the Englishwomen and Dr. Aziz create their own experiences shaping their cultures.

Anti-feminism in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde does not conceal his scorning of women through his philosophical character, Lord Henry. Lord Henry functions as a portal for Oscar Wilde to send out his Aesthetic and hedonistic values into the turn of the century society in which art was considered a measure of morality and hedonism a  path toward sin. Wilde used Lord Henry to juxtapose the commonly held conceptions of the time period with his own philosophies acquired from his Oxford professor, Walter Pater. Lord Henry like Wilde made no mistake to not only Aestheticism and  hedonism were addressed as the superior thinking over morality but also that men ruled not only in thinking but also in love over women. Lord Henry openly regards women "as some witty Frenchman once put it, inspire us with the desire to do masterpieces, and always prevent us from carrying them out" (Wilde 83). Wilde incorporates the Aesthetic philosophy that art exists as beauty alone not a means of morality but also that women reflect beauty but do not encompass the concept. In the same way, a dress may be absolutely gorgeous but doesn't fit once you try it on. In Wilde's reasoning, what good is the beautiful dress if you never get to wear it? What good are beautiful women when they offer nothing else of value? Personally, I think women offer much more than some pretty hair and long eyelashes; however, Wilde regarded man as the superior from of beauty through his descriptions of Dorian: "Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair...All the candor of youth was there as well as all youth's passionate purity" (Wilde 18).  In comparison to the description given by Lord Henry of the beautiful Sibyl, "Don't run down dyed hair and painted faces. There is an extraordinary charm in them, sometimes" (Wilde 55). Wilde presents Sibyl plainly and brashly as a mere actress who serves no purpose in love while the author describes Dorian as a thing of beauty to be admired and in Lord Henry's case influenced. Sibyl, one of only two influential female characters of novel, is disregarded and even insisted upon by Henry as unimportant to the point that Dorian becomes so influenced by Lord Henry's ridicule of Sibyl that Dorian renounces his love and engagement claiming Sibyl was beneath him socially anyway. The author presents his open degradation of women as worthy of any effort through the criticism displayed by Lord Henry toward Dorian's love for Sibyl. In addition, Lord Henry forms generalizations about women concerning the Duchess of Monmouth: "'She is very clever, to clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness'" (Wilde 185). The author insinuates that women should have a "weakness" like a damsel in distress waiting for a beautiful man to save the day. Also, Wilde claims that women should only possess a certain level of wit or else something is wrong with them. Now as a female, I can take offense to Wilde's comments in many ways, but instead I choose to analyze his philosophy according to the time period. During Wilde's time, women were all but powerless with men ruling the jobs, the money, and the power while women sat around pleasing the husbands and looking pretty. Wilde does have a point that women in his time period were quite pathetic in investing themselves in silly romances and society events; however, women were not granted the opportunity by men to gain an education and think for themselves. Although I don't have much pity on pathetic women relying on men, I can understand women in Wilde's time faced numerous obstacles created by men in order to keep men in and women out of power. The author holds a valid point that women of the time period were all but useless compared to a man, but women had all the potential in the world to become greatness but were never granted an opportunity.

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