「모험」에 나타난 자기기만과 외로움

Self-deception and Loneliness in "Adventure"

In "Adventure" Alice Hindman tries to express her repressed sexual instinct with impulsive adventures but becomes a grotesque through her own self-deception and extreme loneliness. She has a passionate relationship with Ned Currie at 16, which defines her identity and molds her entire life. She does believe that Ned may return and stick to his disingenuous word and promises, and holds on to it as the only and absolute truth in her life. Her distortion of reality is in fact based on her self-deception and falsehood she creates. Seized by a strange urge, her second adventure indicates that she wants to feel closer to another grotesque that can understand her loneliness, and that her desire for communication transcends her sexual desire. At the end of the story, she seems to realize that she will die in her bed alone, misunderstood and unloved. But this conclusion shows that, despite the opportunity and potential of another choice, she never makes positive choices and refuses to accept responsibility for her actions. She rather creates an excuse with empty words and shows the limits so as not to get out of her own self-deception. Instead of focusing on Alice's strange behavior and blaming her, Anderson emphasizes the importance of understanding and communication while exploring the sorrow and loneliness of a woman who wants to be loved but is obsessed with self-deception in Winesburg.