Small Town, Big City, Same Old Story Andrew Murachver

Following the Industrial Revolution and urbanization in the United States and Europe, places such as Dublin, Ireland and Winesburg, Ohio would lie on opposite sides of the spectrum as far as geographic size, population, and industrial production. However, Sherwood Anderson and James Joyce share many similar techniques in painting a gloomy picture of life in their respective works of Winesburg, Ohio, and Dubliners. The titles of both works are very misleading in the fact that they boldly suggest that the book is a portrait of the life of people residing in Dublin and Winesburg in the 1910s. True, they do both depict certain aspects of life that apply only to small towns or big cities or something more specific such as Irish nationalism, but they are irrelevant when comparing what is without a doubt the most fascinating feature in both the collections, which is the psychology of the characters. Though any and all claims made about small town life and city life are valid, because they come from the life of the author, neither work is written with the sole intent of depicting a specific region of the world or certain kind of town. The point in both books is that the authors are transcribing the feelings and emotions of the...