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Louise Bentley
The primary love interest of George Willard. The daughter of a wealthy banker, Helen has a privileged upbringing and is the object of several boys’ affections, including George’s close friend Seth Richmond. Despite having a childhood crush on Seth, she gradually forms a connection with George after he decides he wants to fall in love with her. When they are eighteen years old, Helen and George experience a profound sense of mutual understanding and respect for each other. Her presence helps George understand the nature of adult relationships and the complimentary roles of men and women. Helen has gone off to college in Cleveland and has grown into a mature young woman when she returns to Winesburg for the county fair. Just before George departs from Winesburg to start his adult life, he spends a meaningful night with Helen that serves as the affirmation of his transition from childhood to manhood.
Helen White Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Helen White or refer to Helen White. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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24. Sophistication
Quotes
The eighteen years he has lived seem but a moment, a breathing space in the long march of humanity. Already he hears death calling. With all his heart he wants to come close to some other human, touch someone with his hands, be touched by the hand of another. If he prefers that the other be a woman, that is because he believes a woman will be gentle, that she will understand. He wants, most of all, understanding.
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He began to think of the people in the town where he had always lived with something like reverence. He had reverence for Helen. He wanted to love and be loved by her, but he did not want at the moment to be confused by her womanhood…In that high place in the darkness the two oddly sensitive human atoms held each other tightly and waited. In the mind of each was the same though. “I have come to this lonely place and here is the other,” was the substance of the thing felt.
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25. Departure
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The young man’s mind was carried away by his growing passion for dreams. One looking at him would not have thought him particularly sharp. With the recollection of little things occupying his mind he closed his eyes and leaned back in the car seat. He stayed that way for a long time and when he aroused himself and again looked out of the car window the town of Winesburg had disappeared and his life there had become but a background on which to paint the dreams of his manhood.
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Helen White Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Helen White or refer to Helen White. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
24. Sophistication
Quotes
The eighteen years he has lived seem but a moment, a breathing space in the long march of humanity. Already he hears death calling. With all his heart he wants to come close to some other human, touch someone with his hands, be touched by the hand of another. If he prefers that the other be a woman, that is because he believes a woman will be gentle, that she will understand. He wants, most of all, understanding.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He began to think of the people in the town where he had always lived with something like reverence. He had reverence for Helen. He wanted to love and be loved by her, but he did not want at the moment to be confused by her womanhood…In that high place in the darkness the two oddly sensitive human atoms held each other tightly and waited. In the mind of each was the same though. “I have come to this lonely place and here is the other,” was the substance of the thing felt.
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Explanation and Analysis:
25. Departure
Quotes
The young man’s mind was carried away by his growing passion for dreams. One looking at him would not have thought him particularly sharp. With the recollection of little things occupying his mind he closed his eyes and leaned back in the car seat. He stayed that way for a long time and when he aroused himself and again looked out of the car window the town of Winesburg had disappeared and his life there had become but a background on which to paint the dreams of his manhood.
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