Winesburg, Ohio Lesson Plan

"A Man of Ideas" introduces readers to a type of character that we see often in Winesburg, someone whose feelings or thoughts explode out of him. How is Joe Welling similar to Wing Biddlebaum, Doctor Reedy, or Doctor Parcival? How is he different from those characters?

These characters underscore the book's overall theme of seemingly simple characters who possess great depths. Like Biddlebaum, Reedy, and Parcival, Welling cannot help or control these depths and lets them explode. However, unlike those others, his explosions do not separate him from the rest of society. Rather, they make him quite successful, even in seemingly dangerous situations.

In "Adventure," we...