"Godliness, Part 3, Surrender"

Discussion starters

  • Why is it important that Louise Bentley's eyes are gray?

  • Dewey says Louise Bentley "longs to [have . . .] her significance confirmed" (199).  In what ways, both obvious and subtle, do you see her seeking validation?

  • Dewey also says that Louise Bentley "move[s] into [a closet] of [her] own fashioning" (200).  How do you interpret this metaphor?

  • Anderson separated "Godliness" into four parts, each with its own subtitle. Can this section of the story, called Surrender, stand alone meaningfully, or does it depend on material available only in the other three parts?

Critical Sources

  • Papinchak, Robert Allen. Sherwood Anderson: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1993. On reserve.
  • Small, Judy Jo. A Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of Sherwood Anderson. New York: G. K. Hall, 1994. On reserve.
  • Dewey, Joseph.  "No God in the Sky and No God in Myself: 'Godliness' and Anderson's Winesburg." Modern Fiction Studies 35 (Summer 1989): 251-59.  Rpt. Winesburg, Ohio. By Sherwood Anderson. Ed. Charles E. Modlin and Ray Lewis White.  Norton Critical Edition.  New York: Norton, 1996.  194-203.

 

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Created by Stan Galloway, Bridgewater College, 4 September 2003.  Last updated 4 September 2003.