Grotesque-ness

First of all, in a somewhat unrelated note, I have yet to be entirely convinced that "grotesqueness" is indeed a word, it just sounds awkward to me.  But, the truth will not be denied, it is actually a word, coming from "grotesque," which comes form the same Latin word that led us to grotto, and all of which come indirectly from the Greek krypte, which means a crypt or vault, or, more interestingly from the Latin crypta, a verb meaning to encrypt.  Of course a more modern dictionary would tell us that grotesque means "odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre." (dictionary.com).

     Why would this be relevant? one may ask, and I believe that it is because, whether or not Sherwood Anderson was actually aware of the Greek roots of the the word he so vividly epitomized, the characters represent this meaning. Given that the word means to encrypt, or to hide or deceive, I believe it is even more applicable to Sherwood Anderson's characters than one would initially believe, based on the more modern definition. Anderson's characters are not overtly grotesque or bizarre, but their identity is often based on some type of shady past, which they attempt to hide or obfuscate (such as Wing running away from his past as a schoolteacher, or Dr Parcival who tells vague stories about his past that are likely lies). But even more they attempt to hide their grotesqueness, which often contributes to it even more. All people would like to hide that which they are ashamed of, and often rightfully so, but the grotesques of Sherwood's novel often do so in a way that leads to their further descent into grotesqueness through their attempts to hide both what they are ashamed of about themselves, and to hide from what they are afraid of. In “Tandy,” the main character tries to hide her true self behind the fictitious persona of Tandy, a person who is entirely based off of the ramblings of a drunk as the ideal woman, and by attempting to replicate this raving ideal, she becomes a grotesque. And so Tandy hides her true self in addition to creating a new identity. Enoch Robinson, creates a group of imaginary friends because he is unable to tolerate the young artist friends he had begun to pick up and go out with in New York because of a childlike ego and self-centeredness. His imaginary friends always agree with him and never threaten his image of himself, and, again going back to the roots of the word grotesque, he hides himself away. Enoch Robinson does not try to change or mold others to a standard more acceptable to himself, but hides himself away from the world completely, by isolating himself in his apartment, and isolating oneself from the world is a trait that can be seen in almost all of the characters, including Wing Biddlebaum, who lived on the outskirts of town as a berry picker, and Elizabeth Willard, who remains inside all of the time she was not with Doctor Reefy.