The Womanizer

The novel Winesburg Ohio centers around a young man named George Willard. In “Sophistication”, George becomes “sophisticated” by crossing “the line into manhood” (145). Yet, I am always irked by the fact that he is described as a “sophisticated” young man. I believe that George is a serial womanizer despite his “sophistication”. It is evident in the novel that George has a lot of lady friends who are not simply his “friend”. Adding to that, a womanizer is defined as an individual who pursues women lecherously according to The Free Dictionary. Also, a womanizer is defined as a selfish, narcisstic, nefarious character who needs to manipulate and use women to feed his own selfish needs according to the Urban Dictionary. It might seem extremely pessimistic of me to describe George in a disparaging way but his history with women reaffirms my point. We are first introduced to his womanizing behaviors with Louise Trunnion. George jumps at the chance of having sex with Louise an even has a nerve to state that “she hasn’t got anything on me” after the encounter (28). In other words, he’s saying that he got what he wanted, sex, and will now have nothing to do with her. His assertion seems overly presumptuous portraying him as a rather selfish individual. The next woman he lustfully pursues is Kate Swift, his past school teacher. George states that “he began to believe she might be in love with him and the thought was both pleasing and annoying” (93). By saying that her affections for him is annoying, George presents himself as a pompous young man since he clearly believes that she is not worthy of him. Yet, he is also flattered since he is a serial womanizer who jumps at the chance of pursuing women. As a result, he begins “to have lustful thoughts” of Kate (94). What is more amazing is that during his “lustful thoughts” he also begins to dream of Helen White “with whom he had been for a long time half in love” (94). His short attention span towards women reveals his capricious and immature mind. I also must ask, what does it even mean to be half in love? Maybe it means that George’s desire for women persuades his mind to think that he is in love when he is not. Unfortunately, George and Kate do not work out so he starts to pursue another woman, Belle Carpenter. (What a surprise:() Anyways, the affair between George and Belle is just a shallow relationship since both of them use each other to attain their desires. George like a womanizer uses Belle to feed his own selfish needs of lust. He further uses her to be possessed “with the sense of masculine power” (113). Obviously, Belle and George do not work out at the end.  Now the final woman he pursues in the novel is Helen White. Helen and George’s relationship comes under focus at “Sophistication”. George states that he “wanted to be and be loved by her” showing his constant desire to be loved by women (149). Some might say that in this story, George is mature and has quit his womanizing tendencies. However, he is still continuing to pursue women which is in the form of Helen. Inferring from the interaction between George and Helen, George probably desires to form deep relationships with women since his mother died. He is most likely looking for a woman to heal his pains and also to fulfill his selfish needs.