In Adventure by Sherwood Anderson we have the theme of aspirations,

innocence, loneliness, isolation, letting go, paralysis and connection. Taken from
his Winesburg, Ohio collection the story is narrated in the third person by an
unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises how
symbolically important Andersons physical description of Alice is. By describing
Alices head as being large and overshadowing her body Anderson may be
suggesting that Alice rather than living life, lives her life in her head. In essence
thinking about life (and Ned) rather than actually going out and living her life
(with another man). The fact that Alices shoulders are stooped may also be
important as it suggests that Alice might be carrying a weight (the past). Anderson
also appears to be exploring the theme of aspirations. It is clear to the reader that
when Alice was sixteen she had fallen in love with Ned and just as Ned wanted to
progress in the world and move to Cleveland, Alice wanted to follow him. With
the intention of first living with Ned and then when she was older marrying him.
At no stage in the story does Alice let go of Ned or her aspirations to marry him
despite the passing of time.
There is also a sense of innocence in the story. Something that is noticeable after
Alice and Ned have made love. Ned tells Alice now we will have to stick to each
other, whatever happens we will have to do that. Though it is clear to the reader
that after Ned leaves Winesburg he eventually forgets about Alice, she on the
other hand remains true to Neds statement. Which again would highlight Alices
inability to let go of either Ned or the past. It is also noticeable that for a number
of years nothing could have induced her (Alice) to believe that Ned Currie would
not in the end return to her. This line may be important as it further highlights
Alices inability to let go of Ned (and the past). Anderson may also be placing a
spotlight on the tradition that existed at the time the story was written with it
being believed that a single woman should remain faithful to her first love and not
explore any type of relationship with another man. Something that becomes
clearer to the reader when Alice whispers I am his wife and shall remain his wife
whether he comes back or not. Also Alice isolates herself from other suitors
believing it to be monstrous to give herself to another man. Which would further
suggest that Alice adheres to the traditional beliefs that existed at the time when
it came to a man and a woman having a relationship.
The theme of loneliness and isolation is self-evident in the story. Rather than
attempting to engage with other people Alice begins to get attached to inanimate
objects in her room. Also when praying she whispered things she wanted to say
to her lover. If anything rather than living her life, Alice is living in her head.
Isolated from others. Something that is noticeable when she takes out her bank
book and stares at it. Imagining that the interest would support both herself and
her future husband. It is also interesting that Alice has very little conversation
with her employer and at times the store can be empty for hours. This is
important as it suggests that not only is Alice lonely in work but she is further
isolated from others for most of the day while she is working. Both Alices
loneliness and isolation contribute to her feeling desperate. Something that the
reader becomes aware of when we discover that on occasions Alice would put her
head on the store counter and cry. Repeating the words Oh, Ned, I am waiting. If
anything there is a complete paralysis in Alices life. Unlike Ned who has left and
moved to Chicago. Alice is going nowhere and remains rooted to the past. Again
unable to let go.
The ending of the story is also interesting as it becomes clear to the reader just
how desperate Alice has become. She places a blanket between the sheets of her
bed and caresses it. What is significant about Alices action is the fact that the
blanket does not necessarily represent Ned or any other man. But instead it
serves to highlight how lonely Alice really is. She wants to be loved by someone.
How deeply affected by her loneliness Alice actually is, is also noticeable by the
actions she takes in order to try and connect with another person. She runs out
onto the street naked. The fact that the old man is somewhat deaf may also be
important as it suggests that Alice has not been heard, literally and symbolically. It
is also interesting that when Alice returns to her room she pulls the dressing table
across the doorway. Symbolically Anderson could be suggesting not only is Alice
blocking out the world around her but she may also be trapping herself again.
Having already spent the last eleven years of her life waiting for Ned and then for
somebody to love her. If anything Alice is to remain alone or paralyzed and stuck
in Winesburg.
The story of Alice Hindman is another study in appearance and reality. Alice, at
twenty-seven, is a quiet, shy clerk in Winney's Dry Goods Store, but Anderson tells
us "beneath a placid exterior a continual ferment went on." The first part of the
story is really about the absence of adventure, the eleven years since Alice was
sixteen, when she loved and was loved by Ned Currie. These eleven years are
described in a deliberately non-dramatic narrative style to suggest the dull life of
a small-town spinster. The time designations are vague; Anderson uses such
phrases as "in the spring" and "during the fall" to suggest how monotonously the
"weeks ran into months and months into years.

When Alice was with Ned Currie the "outer crust of her life, all of her natural
diffidence and reserve, was torn away." But Alice suffered as many women have
suffered because of the sex role forced on her by society. She had wanted to go
with Ned to Cleveland and help him get a start, even suggesting that they could
marry later. But Ned wanted to protect her and wouldn't agree to such an
arrangement. So the young man went to the big city and, of course, he soon
forgot "Alice in Winesburg"; thus Anderson implies that Ned had other Alices in
other towns. Meanwhile, Alice Hindman, continuing to fulfill the sex role in which
she is cast, remains the constant lover.

Alice finally realizes that she is getting old and that Ned is not coming back. She
joins a church and begins to go to regular meetings, "trying feebly at first, but
with growing determination, to get a new hold upon life." A drab drugstore clerk
often walks her home and though she apparently realizes that she could marry
him, she won't settle for such a sterile life. Alice's loneliness and frustration
reaches a point of hysteria one rainy night and she has an "adventure." She
wants so desperately "to be loved, to have something answer the call that (is]
growing louder and louder within her." She feels vaguely that the rain might have
a creative effect on her, so she runs naked into the night.

Everything in the story has contributed to our impression of her isolation. Her
widowed mother has remarried, her employer is a taciturn old man, the drugstore
clerk who walks her home doesn't sit on the porch and visit as she wishes he
would. Now, on this night of adventure, the man to whom she cries out is old and
somewhat deaf, so he doesn't hear her plea for help. The adventure ends without
anyone except Alice ever knowing about it. Her future holds nothing but
increased loneliness.
In this basically non-dramatic story, the frustration of Alice Hindman's life is
conveyed in a few memorable scenes culminating on a momentous night. Readers
probably recall her with her head down on the counter in Winney's Dry Goods
Store, or kneeling beside her bed where she shaped a human form out of a rolled
blanket, or running naked in the rainy night, or crawling on her hands and knees
through the grass to the house. Perhaps most vividly, one remembers the scene
when Alice lies in bed thinking, "What is the matter with me? I will do something
dreadful if I am not careful," and then turning her face to the wall, she begins to
try "to face bravely the fact that many people must live and die alone, even in
Winesburg." In such scenes Anderson poignantly portrays the lonely, frustrated
people not just in Winesburg but throughout the world.