Living in Ohio for most of his life, Sherwood Anderson based many of his stories on small-town life in Ohio. Anderson's short stories were influenced not only by his surroundings, but also by decisive events that occurred in his youth. In the stories "Sophistication" and "Hands", Sherwood Anderson expresses his keen understanding of loneliness and isolation in relation to the protagonists' sexuality, while also differentiating the root of these emotions in each character's lifestyle as he continues in life and overcomes its obstacles. .During his youth, Anderson experienced life-changing events that laid the foundation for many of his stories. In his childhood, Anderson experienced an intermittent school education and held a variety of jobs, including a newsboy, a house painter, a stable boy, a farm laborer, and a bicycle factory worker, many of which are jobs among those described in his writings (May, ed. 77). The central psychological event in Anderson's life occurred in 1912, when he suffered a nervous breakdown. He later moved to Chicago where he began writing. Here he also met Dr. Trigant Burrow of Baltimore, who ran a Freudian therapeutic camp in Lake Chateauguay, New York, which Anderson frequented in the summers of 1915 and 1916 (May, ed. 77). Influenced not only by life events, Anderson's writings contain clear commonalities, allowing clear comparisons to be made. Many critics note the connection between recurring themes such as isolation and sexuality to differentiate each parallel and topic shown in Anderson's work. Both stories come from Sherwood Anderson's book Winesburg, Ohio, which is set in the latter part of the 19th century. The stories “catalog Anderson's negative reaction to Ohi's transformation......center of paper......Winesburg, Ohio.”Sherwood Anderson: Dimensions of His Literary Art. Ed. David D. Anderson. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1976. 41-60. Rpt. In the criticism of short stories. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Jelena O. Krstovic, vol. 91. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Network. March 14, 2011. "Sherwood Anderson." Critical investigation of short fiction. Ed. Charles E. May. vol. 7.Pasadena: Salem Press, 2001. Print. 76-81.“Sophistication”. Short stories for students. Ed. Suzanne Dewsbury, James Person and Aarti Stephens. 27 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print. 293-302.Ward, J. A. American Silences: The Realism of James Agee, Walker Evans, and EdwardHopper. Baton Rouge: Louisianna State University Press, 1985. Print. 46-50.White, Ray Lewis. Winesburg, Ohio: An Exploration. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990.Print. 7-94.