The Lonely Extremities

A comparison of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Elliot and Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.... Well the main theme of "Prufrock" that I really took away was that life is stressful and then you die. There is a lot of terminal feeling diction in this poem as well as much evidence of sulking. In Winesburg however the main thing I pulled away was that being lonely and thinking too much causes uncool abnormalities in your life and personality. If we trace this lonely idea throughout "Prufrock" there appears to be some of that in there too. Like in the first section where the speaker is talking about "one-night cheap hotels" and "half-deserted streets" (lines 6 and 7). Those are not phrases often used to express contentment or friendship. The cheap hotels part is basically a euphemism for hiring a prostitute, so since the speaker is drooping down to this level, he obviously does not have anyone to accompany him on a regular basis. This imagery is also seen in the same section on the next  line with "oyster-shells" which are another euphemism for sex. Along this same idea of lonely sex, in Winesburg George seems to be looking for a girl to get it on with in many of the stories that he is the center of. With Louise, who seems to have been his first lover, Kate, Belle, and then finally Helen, George is looking for a girl to spend time with. Until the end with Helen, George does not really have any friends, so he is always alone except when he is hearing peoples' stories. So these two works connect in the way that the two main characters are looking for a woman, presumably, to take to bed, but even more just to have as a friend. Along with this connection, there is also the feeling of fragmentation in both works. In Winesburg it is most often with hands, while in "Prufrock" it is seen with eyes, muzzles, arms, legs, hair. Most often it seems to be seen with arms. There is an interesting similarity, both works have that hand/arm thing going on. These are from the limb that is most active and both main characters are having trouble becoming active. They are not really able to do much with their hands/arms since they have no one to hold/touch. This idea also fits back into the loneliness aspect of both stories. So in my opinion that is the biggest connection that can be found between both stories. There are important themes of loneliness and fragmentation in both stories, signifying the characters' inability to connect with the people around them.