Caged Beasts Driven Insane
[Pakse, Laos on 6/5/23] Sherwood Anderson, “For a time he was lonely and wrote to Alice almost every day. Then he was caught up by the life of the city; he began to make friends and found new interests in life.”
Why quote a rather plain passage about a generic situation? Although a cliche by now, there is much tragedy behind it. Publishing Winesburg, Ohio in 1919, Anderson depicted not just a society, but the entire world, destined for social chaos and disaster. He himself lived it.
Uprooted, he was launched into a world of interchangeable strangers, with beautiful faces and smiles everywhere, and instant friends that could be discarded at will. With so many possibilities behind so many doors, of course Alice, his hometown sweetheart whom he had made loved to just once, would fade away.
Left behind, faithful and immobile, Alice was neither modern nor progressive. Even after Ned had stopped writing her, she still believed he would return. To prepare for this, Alice saved so they could even travel together:
“Ned always liked to travel about,” she thought. “I’ll give him the chance. Some day when we are married and I can save both his money and my own, we will be rich. Then we can travel together all over the world.”
Even now, that’s a common trajectory for more traditional, stable minded people. You get married, work, save then roam a bit after your kids are grown, so just before you’re dead. Boozing on a cruise ship, you can hop off every so often to buy trinkets and snap selfies, then get back onboard for more gin and tonic. Tonight, you’ll give béarnaise sauce a try, but what the hell is a bang bang bonsai roll?! Does it come with a condom? You still have it.
