Winesburg, Ohio

In the Novel Winesburg, Ohio the issue of how Sherwood Anderson presents the female characters is often raised. Of all the grotesques, the female characters seem even more grotesque. Care Coloquitt states, "Anderson never allows a women a means of escape" "For all the sensitive attention Anderson can pay to his female characters, he does not, create a female character who wants, and able to form her own life. (94) Louise Bentley, Elizabeth Willard, and Alice …

…if I am not careful (120). Instead, Alice will continue to live in Winesburg in a lonely, unfulfilled existence with no hope for escape, except death. All the female characters have brief encounters of happiness but loneliness always overcomes the happiness. Where Alice and Lousie end up to live in Winesburg in a lonely, unfulfilled existence with no hope for escape, except death. Elizabeth means of her escape was death and she was released of Winesburg.