Faith, Fate, and Meaning Theme Analysis

Whereas small, rural towns are commonly associated with a strong religious foundation, there is a distinct lack of faith in the community of Winesburg. The novel begins with a cautionary tale about becoming possessed and corrupted by singular beliefs, a fate that ironically befalls many characters throughout the novel. Rather than trusting in God or destiny, several characters obsessively search for truth and try in vain to take fate into their own hands or create contrived purpose in their lives. By contrast, those who actually succeed in finding meaning stumble upon it when they least expect it. By making this distinction, Anderson emphasizes the detriments of blindly searching for truth and meaning and shows the importance of trust in a higher power and acceptance of humanity’s limited capacity for knowledge and control.

Winesburg, Ohio begins with the story of an elderly writer who has a dreamlike vision that he goes on to write about in “The Book of the Grotesque.” He warns his readers that truth is beautiful and universal, but that people can become grotesque when they narrowly fixate on a single principle for guiding their lives. This warning proves apt for Doctor Reefy, Wing Biddlebaum, and Jesse Bentley, whose attempts to seek meaning and build themselves up as prophetic figures result in self-sabotage.

Doctor Reefy is a clear example of this, as he constantly constructs and deconstructs “pyramids” of truth that he compulsively scribbles onto scraps of paper. Despite this obsession with intellectual self-development, he is unable to move past the deaths of his wife and later of Elizabeth Willard to find lasting happiness. Reefy describes himself as having “invented gods and prayed to them” amidst his grief, but his man-made deities lack any real substance or grounding in a higher power. Reefy’s fixation on these beliefs of his own creation ultimately doom him to an unfulfilling life. Wing Biddlebaum is another character who is similarly possessed by his own perceptions of truth, envisioning himself as a wise figure whose purpose is to enlighten the minds of young men. Blindly focusing on this singular purpose results in Wing crossing inappropriate boundaries with his male students and soiling his reputation. His fanatical devotion, first to his own intellectual vision and subsequently to his shame, leaves him imitating “a priest engaged in some service of his church,” worshipping the miniscule pleasures of his isolated life in lieu of a meaningful belief system.

Anderson further develops his critique of self-possessed ideology as the narrative shifts back several generations to the story of Jesse Bentley, the owner of a prosperous farm near Winesburg. While people in this era were generally more religiously devout, Jesse fids it increasingly difficult to “get back to the old feeling of a close and personal God” as he becomes obsessed with wealth and productivity. Jesse’s devotion to God is perverted by greed and an aggrandized vision of himself as an Old Testament figure, a perspective that ultimately leads to pain, disappointment, and loss for himself and his loved one and highlights the importance of relinquishing control and accepting fate.

In contrast to these examples of blind devotion to empty principles, the story of Tandy Hard’s name exemplifies the random, arbitrary nature of fate, while Reverend Curtis Hartman’s fixation on the beautiful schoolteacher Kate Swift culminates in a surrendering of control that leads to a meaningful epiphany. Through these experiences, Anderson reinforces the importance of faith in a higher power and accepting the limitations that humans face in controlling their own destinies. Tandy, the young daughter of the devout atheist Tom Hardy, is approached by a drunk stranger who kisses her hands and delivers his prophecy of a woman named Tandy who will be “something more than man or woman.” The stranger encourages her to become this woman and to dare to embody bravery, strength, and openness to love. Though seemingly nonsensical, this encounter has a profound impact on the little girl, who from then on rejects her given name and insists on being called Tandy. The event creates a sense of purpose that allows Tandy to transcend the death of her mother and her father’s neglectful treatment of her. By trusting in a higher power rather than succumbing to the narrow, apathetic mindset that her father sets forth, Tandy is able to find lasting meaning.

Reverend Hartman has a similarly random yet impactful experience when his sexually-fueled obsession with Kate Swift culminates in him deciding that he will give into sin and stop his temptation to peer into the woman’s bedroom window. He is shocked when he sees Kate naked and praying in her bedroom. Hartman has been tortured into a lengthy crisis of faith by the temptation he feels for the young woman, and seeing her in her most raw, vulnerable form delivers an epiphany to him that Kate is “an instrument of God, bearing the message of truth.” The minister is thusly able to free himself from sinful obsession and comes to value Kate as a spiritual being rather than a physical object. Rather than attempting to force himself into the hypocritical duality of preaching purity but yearning for Kate, Hartman’s decision to accept his human flaws and trust in God leads to true enlightenment.

The deeply meaningful experiences of Tandy and Hartman are a stark contrast to the stories of Reefy, Wing, and Jesse who fall into the tragic archetype laid out by the writer in “The Book of the Grotesque.” By showing the pitfalls of becoming too intellectually or materially possessed, Anderson highlights the importance of accepting one’s limits and finding purpose internally rather than searching for external meaning.