Man of Ideas

In the short story "A Man of Ideas," author Sherwood Anderson tells about a young man named Joe Welling. Joe is just another citizen of Winesburg, Ohio and is neither especially talented nor especially intelligent. He works for Standard Oil but does not have a high position in the company. Joe Welling is just a regular working man and this is a situation which bores him. The only thing that makes him stand out at all is his ability to exaggerate, to tell convincing stories, and to involve other people in his fantasies. Welling's story fits into the larger theme of Winesburg, Ohio, that despite living in a small town and performing a service which does not make them special, the people have to become grotesque caricatures of regular people in order to feel unique. The reader sees through Joe's imaginings the difference between how he views...
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