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Helen White
A strange, socially-isolated field laborer whose only friend is George Willard. Wing gets his name from his uncontrollably restless hands that move incessantly like the wings of a caged bird. A former schoolteacher in Pennsylvania, Wing is full of boundless ideas and would often deliver impassioned lectures to his male students while touching their heads and shoulders. As a result, Wing was accused of molestation, run out of town, and fled to Winesburg under a new name. Wing’s soiled reputation and hyperactive hands create a deep sense of shame that alienates him from the rest of the town.
Wing Biddlebaum / Adolph Meyers Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Wing Biddlebaum / Adolph Meyers or refer to Wing Biddlebaum / Adolph Meyers. 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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1. The Book of the Grotesque
Quotes
It was the truths that made the people grotesques. The old man had quite an elaborate theory concerning the matter. It was his notion that the moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a falsehood.
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2. Hands
Quotes
In Winesburg the hands had attracted attention merely because of their activity. With them Wing Biddlebaum had picked as high as a hundred and forty quarts of strawberries in a day. They became his distinguishing feature, the source of his fame. And they made more grotesque an already grotesque and elusive individuality.
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“You must try to forget all you have learned,” said the old man. “You must begin to dream. From this time on you must shut your ears to the roaring of the voices.”
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In the dense blotch of light beneath the table, the kneeling figure looked like a priest engaged in some service of his church. The nervous expressive fingers, flashing in and out of the light, might well have been mistaken for the fingers of the devotee going swiftly through decade after decade of his rosary.
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Wing Biddlebaum / Adolph Meyers Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Wing Biddlebaum / Adolph Meyers or refer to Wing Biddlebaum / Adolph Meyers. 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:
).
1. The Book of the Grotesque
Quotes
It was the truths that made the people grotesques. The old man had quite an elaborate theory concerning the matter. It was his notion that the moment one of the people took one of the truths to himself, called it his truth, and tried to live his life by it, he became a grotesque and the truth he embraced became a falsehood.
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Explanation and Analysis:
2. Hands
Quotes
In Winesburg the hands had attracted attention merely because of their activity. With them Wing Biddlebaum had picked as high as a hundred and forty quarts of strawberries in a day. They became his distinguishing feature, the source of his fame. And they made more grotesque an already grotesque and elusive individuality.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“You must try to forget all you have learned,” said the old man. “You must begin to dream. From this time on you must shut your ears to the roaring of the voices.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In the dense blotch of light beneath the table, the kneeling figure looked like a priest engaged in some service of his church. The nervous expressive fingers, flashing in and out of the light, might well have been mistaken for the fingers of the devotee going swiftly through decade after decade of his rosary.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
