Winesburg, Ohio: 20. Queer Summary & Analysis

Elmer Cowley is the son of the owner of Cowley & Son’s store, a place that Will Henderson once described as “selling everything and nothing.” As a newcomer in town, Elmer is intensely resentful of George Willard and imagines that the young reporter can hear everything being said in his family’s store. He takes out his wrath for George on two traveling men who are making a business deal with his father Ebenezer, pulling a gun on them and demanding that they leave the store. Elmer’s father is left perplexed at his outburst.

Elmer leaves Winesburg to go walking out in the country along the railroad tracks. He passionately declares that he will prove himself to George Willard. Elmer has no reason to hate George but views the young man as representative of the town where he feels ostracized. He believes that George, as the only newspaper reporter in town, must have influenced Winesburg to condemn the Cowleys as strange and unlikable. Elmer, who has made no friends during his first year in Winesburg, assumes that George must always be happy and self-assured.

On his walk, Elmer becomes cold and turns off into the woods to build a fire. He sits in the warmth for two hours and then makes his way out of the underbrush to find that he has come upon the farm where he grew up before moving to Winesburg. Elmer convinces Mook, his family’s old farmhand, to sit by the fire and listen to him rant about his frustrations. Elmer complains about his family’s “queerness” which makes them stand out in Winesburg and wishes that he could return to his simple life on the farm where he did not worry about what other people thought of him. Again, he pins his angst on George Willard and vows that he will stand up to him.

Back in Winesburg, Elmer marches into the Eagle office and demands that George follow him outside. The two boys walk through Winesburg and George (unaware of Elmer’s secret resentment toward him) is delighted that he finally has the opportunity to befriend the newcomer whom he has been curious about. Suddenly, Elmer turns on George, yelling at him to leave him alone. He spends the next three hours wandering through the streets, feeling defeated and furious that he could not stand up for himself.

Elmer, distraught over his failed confrontation, robs twenty dollars from his father’s store and decides that he will run away from home. He plans to hop a train to Cleveland and start a new life there, free to work and make friends without his family’s “queer” reputation hanging over him. Inspired with newfound hope and confidence, Elmer decides that he will challenge George (and, by proxy, all of Winesburg) before he leaves. 

Elmer goes to the New Willard House hotel and demands that the night clerk wake George and send him downstairs. Again, Elmer is too flustered to speak his mind and instead confesses to George that he robbed his father’s store and hands over the money. In a fit of rage, he attacks George, relentlessly punching the boy until he is “half unconscious.” Elmer then hops on a passing train and leaves Winesburg, full of pride and assuring himself that “I ain’t so queer.”