FREE ESSAY ON SOPHISTICATION

SOPHISTICATION

Sophistication, an intriguing story by Sherwood Anderson, is written about George Willard
and his lonely journey into manhood. He is a small town boy from Ohio who is discouraged
by the lack of direction in his life. When he reached the age of 18, he began to see
himself as just another soul to live and die. Willard realizes that unless he does
something to change the course that his life is taking, he will never be a great man in
anyone's eyes. More than anything else, he needs someone to know what he was going
through, and understand how he felt.
There is a time in the life of every boy when he for the first time takes the backward
view of life. Perhaps that is the moment when he crossed the line into manhood. I think
this one sentence is the essence of what Anderson is trying to communicate throughout the
story. As George Willard looks at his meaningless life and his bleak surroundings, fresh
ideas, new ambitions, oppressing sorrows, and lonely thoughts play with his mind, trying
desperately to overcome him. He likens the transition into sophistication to a deep mood
that takes over. It sweeps over his whole being and completely encompasses all of his
thoughts and actions. 
George Willard realizes and aches over the time limitations placed on his ambition. He
knows death is inevitable and he is taunted by its gloomy calling. He intends to journey
to a major city and get a job at a newspaper. He hopes that his feelings of immaturity
will be erased by his importance there. Although it isn't much, it is vital to him that
he finds something to be remembered and admired for. George Willard has an intense
craving to be different than other men. He wants to amount to something more than every
other small town farmer's son. He has a need to prove himself to everyone so that he is
given the recognition that he feels he deserves. 
One of the reasons that he wants this so badly was because the woman that he understands
most fully is out of his class division. She is a college student with wealthy parents.
Although he isn't on the right ring of the social ladder, George cannot suppress his
feelings for her. Anderson states that at the moment George Willard came into
sophistication is when his mind turned to her. Helen White is the only woman he longs
for. 
Helen is a beautiful girl with all the necessary attributes to find a good husband.
However, her mother doesn't believe that anyone from a small town is good enough for her
daughter. Suitors from other towns and cities are invited by her mother to visit. They
intend for Helen to fall for one of the men that her parents find appropriate for her to
be seen with. If George Willard never amounts to anything, then he will never be granted
permission to court her.
George Willard had never really talked to Helen with the intention of seeking her hand.
The feelings that they have are unspoken. He is conscious of the long-lasting impression
that she casts upon him and the dignity that she possesses. He is acutely aware of her
graceful yet significant presence and he longs for her closeness. They both need the
other to feel and understand the changes that are taking place within their souls and
minds. In understanding each other, they join together to take the final step into
adulthood. Their ability to sit and communicate without saying a word is a sure sign of
growing up. Their thoughts have taken a transformation so that they now look at the world
with a more knowledgeable and worldly view. George and Helen are changing and growing
into sophisticated adults. At the same time, they are merely on the verge of adulthood
and have an occasional tendency to slip back into the playful innocence of youth. They
are caught somewhere in an animal-kind of world that only evolves with time.
In the company of another adult who understands, loneliness is banished but somehow
deepened at the same time. It is like a security blanket. George knows that she is there
to comfort him and be there to help him, but the comfort allows him to sink further into
his isolation.
Somehow this time of experimentation, loneliness, yearning, ambition and understanding is
what all teenagers dream of. Yet once sophistication is obtained, the world gets smaller
and everything around is less significant. So why do we all want to grow up so badly?
That is for each person to figure out as they cross the threshold of maturity and
understand for themselves, just as George Willard did.