「신앙심」(“Godliness”)에 나타난 물질주의와 광신주의

Materialism and Fanaticism in “Godliness”

Jesse Bentley in “Godliness” is a grotesque figure who clings to his own truth, striving to build a Bentley dynasty through his farm and land and to perpetuate it through his son. But his materialism and excessive religious zeal not only distort his own life and destroy all his relationships with those around him, but also lead him to let his wife die, reject his daughter out of obsession with dynasty-building, and drive his grandson away in terror with his fanatical faith. Jesse’s distorted faith leads to an intermediate stage in which his daughter Louise is unable to realize her intellectual aspirations, and then into David’s artistic sensibility. Sherwood Anderson expands on various themes of Winesburg, Ohio, such as loneliness, misunderstanding, the role and position of women in a patriarchal society, artistic imagination, distorted religious beliefs, adventure, and departure.