Winesburg, Ohio Lesson Plan

Despite its placement at the beginning of the book, "The Book of the Grotesques" doesn't function like a standard introduction, as the characters in that story do not have a clear connection to Winesburg or George Willard. However, the grotesques described in that story do help us think about the characters we'll meet in the book's various stories. What does the word "grotesque" suggest? Why does truth distort the grotesques? How does the old writer's response to the grotesques prepare the reader for the rest of the book?

The word "grotesque" suggest that the characters have become deformed or exaggerated, that something in them has been twisted past its normal state....