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A strange or disturbing figure whose appearance or character traits evoke both sympathy and disgust. Grotesque figures appear widely in classical mythology, art, and architecture, as well as Gothic literature, and are often used to explore dark and painful themes. Many of the characters in Winesburg, Ohio seem to be the real-life, humanized versions of the demonic grotesques that appear in the writer’s “The Book of the Grotesque.” Wing Biddlebaum’s hands, Doctor Reefy’s similarity to a twisted apple, and Elizabeth Willard’s shabby appearance are all examples of grotesque qualities that are simultaneously off-putting and sympathy-evoking.
Grotesque Quotes in Winesburg, Ohio
The Winesburg, Ohio quotes below are all either spoken by Grotesque or refer to Grotesque. For each quote, you can also see the other terms 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
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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
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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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3. Paper Pills
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Little pyramids of truth he erected and after erecting knocked them down again that he might have the truths to erect other pyramids.
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11. A Man of Ideas
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“Let’s take decay. Now what is decay? It’s fire. It burns up wood and other things…This sidewalk here and this feed store, the trees down the street there—they’re all on fire. They’re burning up. Decay you see is always going on…The world is on fire. Start your pieces in the paper that way. Just say in big letters ‘The World is On Fire.’ That will make ‘em look up.”
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Grotesque Term Timeline in Winesburg, Ohio
The timeline below shows where the term Grotesque appears in Winesburg, Ohio. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. The Book of the Grotesque
...a dreamlike vision in which the youthful presence within him is leading a procession of grotesque figures in front of him. The vision lasts for an hour, with the grotesques varying...
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...themselves totally to a truth, becomes possessed by it to the point of becoming a grotesque, and each truth thus becomes a falsehood. The narrator points out the irony of the...
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2. Hands
...volumes of strawberries as a field laborer. The narrator notes that Wing’s hands made him grotesque yet somewhat endearing to the townspeople. George is curious about the hands, sensing that there...
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