Hands Across Winesburg: Synecdochic Connections in Winesburg, Ohio Theoderek Wayne

The sum of the partsthe vignettes of townsfolkof Winesburg, Ohio is greater than the whole novel. Winesburg, too, is only one town in all of Ohio, which is one of a host of states in the U.S. This magnification is at the heart of the novel, in which synecdoche is the main lens through which Sherwood Anderson allows us to regard the grotesques. This narrow aperture of perception does not compromise full characterization, but instead forces the reader into searching for subtle connections within and across the sketches. The opening story, "Hands," launches the titular synecdochic motif whose pairings Anderson systematically and symmetrically deploys. Discounting the final brief story, "Departure," and the prologue-like "The Book of the Grotesque," the opening story complements the final story. Within this diptych and throughout the other pieces, Anderson feeds the epitomized symbol of human connection, the hand, into a matrix of binaries and hidden connections. He outlines the hand's numerous antithetical uses (for instance, as both a formal farewell handshake and a lover's caress) and reveals the gesticulative associations between ostensibly disparate characters. Though we may glimpse only a...