"Loneliness" continued

I’m going to continue my discussion on “Loneliness” from the week before because it’s such an interesting story.

1. On pg. 171, the speaker says, “He wanted most of all the people of his own mind, people with whom he could really talk people he could harangue and scold by the hour, servants, you see, to his fancy.” The quotation is the speaker’s explanation of Enoch’s actions and imaginary friends. Basically, Enoch wanted people to agree with him and think that he is the best. However, I think that there is more. He needs some sort of mutual respect and love as all the characters do in Winesburg, Ohio. Since he has that love and respect through his imaginary friends and then loses it, he could perhaps be one of the most pathetic and loneliest characters in the novel.
2. Enoch then “married a girl who sat in a chair next to his own in the art school and went to live in an apartment house in Brooklyn. Two children were born to the woman he married, and Enoch got a job in a place where illustrations are made for advertisements” (171). The quotation shows Enoch’s confinement during is marriage. The illustrations he makes for advertising must be confined to certain standards. In addition, he “felt choked in a walled in by the life in the apartment.” Why? He can’t be accepted within the society and he must conform to certain standards, and, like a child, he cannot handle that. In the narrow room, he doesn’t feel walled in because he doesn’t have to conform to societal standards with his imaginary friends.
3. How is George Willard significant? George Willard and Enoch Robinson can understand each other because of certain sadness and even need for maturity “sadness was in the heart of George Willard.” In the story, it rained on the evening that they met which could represent a possible Foster connection. It foreshadows some sort of a renewal that Enoch gets by talking to George Willard. It could also possibly deal with his release and catharsis since almost every character in the novel seems to experience a type of release. In addition, the rain occurred in October which means that Enoch is reaching middle age and has finally gained a certain maturity and solemnity.
4. When he falls in love, he gains a certain maturity and can no longer understand and justify his actions with his imaginary friends. However, his newfound maturity accompanies a newfound sadness. In regards to the girl he falls in love with, Enoch says, “I thought that she was bigger than I was in that room” (177) He can’t handle her realness and understanding though, and he was furious when “she had understood all the time” (177). It seems that all he has been searching for understanding but can’t handle it in the end. Enoch would rather crucify himself by letting the girl and the imaginary go than accept the understanding of others. Part of the problem is that she understands his childlike tendencies, and he finally understands it too so he can’t accept his imaginary friends. Why do the imaginary characters leave with the girl and why can’t Enoch accept the girl’s company?

There seems to be so much in the story, and there are still some things that I don’t understand. A really important part of the story is the beautiful girl in the painting, but I am finding it hard to find out what she really represents. I think it might have to do with Enoch’s idea of an ideal woman.