This initial experience with Wing did plant the seed in George, which later grew as he experienced life.

             Wash Williams is an interesting grotesque who helped George mature by showing him that people aren"t always what they appear to be or say they are-appearances can be quite deceiving. Although "Wash Williams, the telegraph operator of Winesburg, was the ugliest thing in town" at one time he was a young handsome suitor (Anderson 104). His bride was a tall, blonde girl with blue eyes. Wash was passionately in love with her and confessed to George, "When the hem of her garment touched my face I trembled (Anderson 108). On the surface, they were the perfect couple, yet underneath, the marriage was corrupted. Wash"s appearance was foul and unclean, which seemed to reflect his thoughts about women and marriage. He hated everything. Wash tried to impress upon George the disgust of women, relationships, and marriage. Wash felt the need to help George mature in his views about women because he saw George kissing Belle Carpenter. Wash averred to George, "What happened to me may next happen to you. I want to put you on your guard. Already you may be having dreams in your head, I want to destroy them" (Anderson 107). After Wash"s tirade, George felt sick and weak. Wash had somehow managed to corrupt George"s idea a perfect marriage or even the perfect woman. The images that Wash introduced into George"s mind and heart caused George to think on a different level. Things were not what they appeared to be. George may have been beginning to realize that in order to attain true happiness, one must look far beneath the surface and dig deeper into an individual"s soul.

             Women in George"s life taught his some valuable, maturing lessons. His encounter with Louise Trunnion showed him to be an insensitive, immature boy, yet at the end of the chapter, he seemed to feel some guilt or remorse.