Trailer for Splendor in the Grass:
Key scenes that connect to lecture and reading:
Scenes with Bud/Father: In this scene we see a young man's inability to express his feelings to his father, and his father's pressure for the young man (named Bud) to do what he had always wanted to do but could not do because he grew up poor and on a farm, and that is, go to Yale University and play football. Much to his father's chagrin, Bud want's to marry his girlfriend in part so they can, um, "spoil each other" as they say in the movie.
Deenie's breakdown in the classroom: In this scene we see the lead character Deenie explaining Woodsworth's poem in relationship to youth, growing up, and how an ideal life (the American Dream) seems un-obtainable for most despite their desperate measures to obtain it.
Deenie Proving She Can be the "Type of Girl" Bud Wants:
View Deenie's Suicide Attempt (not included)
Deenie's Breakdown/Discussion with her Mother: In this scene we see Bud's girlfriend Deenie begin to go "mad/crazy" because she and Bud are not allowed to consummate their relationship in the way they both would like. The scene underscores the "good girl/bad girl" dichotomy of the times but also how religion and family shape their choices.
Deenies Mother Explaining How She Raised Her (not included):
In this scene, Deenie's mother speaks to her after she is let out of a mental institution. She wonders if how she raised Deenie and living in the small town is to blame for Deenie's breakdown and Bud's troubles, but she tells her that she did the best she knew how to do (there is also another interesting scene not shown here when her parents visit her in the mental institution and her parents ask her if the doctors have been talking to her about "Freud" and blaming them for her breakdown).
For Sections:
"Drink," "Death," "Departure"
Jumpstart 1 (First Day of Section)
Jumpstart 1 (Second Day of Section)
Free-write Exercise: Anderson writes that George Willard’s life in Winesburg was “the background on which to paint the dreams of his manhood” (252). What might he mean by this? In one-to-two paragraphs, answer that and the following question: Will George Willard return to Winesburg? Why or Why not? Use instances from previous stories and dialogue to support your position.
(212) Anderson, using metaphor, writes that Tom Foster’s grandmother’s hands are “like an old creeping vine tied to a tree.” What do you think that metaphor means?
(214) Tom “stood in the shadow of life, and was meant to stand in the shadow,” writes Anderson. How does Tom’s life and actions reflect one who stood in the shadow of life? What does it mean to stand in the shadow of life?
(214) Generally speaking, most people abhor the feeling of shame, yet Tom embraces the feeling. Why? What does shame teach him, and what do you think Anderson means to convey about this emotion?
(215) Tom, like many of the characters having difficulty, are “apart yet a part of Winesburg.” What does being “apart yet a part of” signify in a broader context?
Many of the characters connect youth with the emotion of unrequited love, and seem to suggest that happenings in their youth “trapped” them in that moment and hitherto became something that they spent their life trying to “release,” relive, or understand. Why do you think so many of Anderson’s characters experience this, and what point might Anderson be trying to make by replicating this narrative pattern throughout his stories?
(218) Tom describes Helen in a multitude of ways. What does his feelings for Helen “say” about who he is as a young man and his emotions? Why did Tom yearn to feel pain (221)?
(225) On what basis did Dr. Reefy and Elizabeth Willard connect? Anderson writes that during their conversations, often accompanied by long silences, “a wish became a desire, or a dream, half dead, flared suddenly into life.” What does that sentence say about their connection, and what does it say about the life Elizabeth wanted to articulate to Dr. Reefy? How does this compare to the story of Enoch Robinson in “Loneliness?”
(226) Dr. Reefy tells Elizabeth that she must try to “not make love definite.” What does he mean by this? Have the characters in this book made love definite, and might this account for their unhappiness? Is Elizabeth’s unhappy marriage a signification of making love definite? Why did she wish to get married, and why did others prod her (except her father) to do so? Marriage, she says while examining her interior thoughts, brought a “tale” to her life. What might she mean by this? Why did her husband make her unhappy?
(231) Elizabeth, like many of the characters, wanted to “run away, yet run toward” something at the same time. What might Anderson mean by the yearning to run away from everything/run toward something? Why did she pray for death and what did death bring her?
As George Willard leaves, why do you think he begins to romanticize parts of Winesburg (especially the good part)?
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