wakariaeru

Winesburg, Ohio- Sherwood Anderson

Naked- Spyair

Throughout Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson explores the concepts of loneliness and an inability to communicate. I was recently listening to music when I was struck by several phrases with an extremely similar message in a song that began to play. The song was “Naked” by Spyair, which begins with:

「誰にも会いたくはない」

そんな夜が僕にだってあるけど

ひとりが好きなわけじゃない

ただ、誰といても　分かり合える気がしなくて

“I don’t want to see anyone”

I’ve had those kinds of nights.

It’s not that I like one person,

It’s just that no matter who I’m with, I feel like we can’t understand each other.

This feeling of being unable to be understood is a plague that affects a large number of the residents of Winesburg, Ohio. It starts at the very beginning of Winesburg, Ohio with Wing Biddlebaum in “Hands.” Since his hands and their actions had been so misunderstood when he was a teacher, Wing Biddlebaum does not have the courage to communicate. He symbolically “wanted to keep [his hands] way.” Considering that Wing’s method of communicating with others is by passing his dreams on through his hands, by hiding his hands he is hiding his thoughts and dreams because, as the song lyrics so aptly phrase it, he feels he can’t be understood. “Mother” contains a similar example with Elizabeth Willard. She spends most of her time coped up in her house, not interacting with anyone since no one would be able to understand her. The examples continue in “Teacher” with Kate Swift. The teacher frequently walks around at night all alone, not interacting with anyone, which makes her quite a mystery to the rest of the town. As Anderson says, “no one in Winesburg would have suspected” what kind of person Kate Swift was. As that line implies, the residents of Winesburg don’t understand Kate, leading to her to be isolated just like the speaker in the song “Naked.”

But these examples, both in the book and in the song, aren’t people who are content to be isolated. The lyrics of “Naked” continue later on in the song with the phrases:

なぜだろう？　こんなに人恋しいのに. . .

少しづつ　僕のハートを話せるかな？

Why is it? I long for people this much . . .

Little by little, I wonder if you’ll be able to understand my heart.

Just as the lyrics show, Wing Biddlebaum, Elizabeth Willard, and Kate Swift all try to find someone, anyone, that will understand them. For all of them, that person happens to be George Willard. Wing Biddlebaum tries to convey his dreams to George, saying, “You must begin to dream. From this time on you must shut your ears to the roaring of voices.” Wing himself was defeated by the opinions of others. Fearing what others might think, he hid away his expressive hands. By conveying that message to George, he attempts to send his dreams to someone that will understand so that his dreams will continue to live on. Elizabeth similarly tries to communicate with her son and live vicariously through him when she prods him to interact with others and be understood, saying “I think you had better go out among the boys. You are too much indoors.” As Elizabeth herself feels trapped by staying indoors the vast majority of the time without anyone to talk with and understand her, she tries to convey that loneliness to her son with her words and hopes that her loneliness will be understood by someone. Kate Swift is the same, hoping to be able to lean on someone and be understood, she goes to George Willard and “[lets] her body fall heavily against him.” Contrasted with her usual nights of walking alone, Kate’s dependence on George is an attempt to finally be understood by someone.

However, the song has one more phrase that once again matches Winesburg perfectly.

なぜだい？ こんなに近くにいるるのに遠い

言葉をかわすたびに　ひとりになる

Why is it? We’re so close yet so far

When we talk, I become alone.

Although Wing, Elizabeth, and Kate all try to connect with George and be understood by him, just like the speaker of the song, they are unable to truly communicate. When Wing realizes that he’s touching George with his hands in his excitement, his way of communicating, he becomes frightened, dreading misunderstanding, and withdraws back into himself as he “[thrusts] his hands deep into his trousers pockets.” Anderson is even clearer in the lack of proper communication between George and his mother, outright stating, “The communion between George Willard and his mother was outwardly a formal thing without meaning.” They were unable to get past the outer appearance of understanding. In the case of Kate Swift, George himself realizes that there is something missing in their communication as he says, “I have missed something Kate Swift was trying to tell me.”

This idea of a need to communicate runs through both the song and the book, yet in both, the characters don’t always find the happy understanding that they’re searching for.