Death in the Woods

Like many of Sherwood Anderson’s best-known short stories, “Death in the Woods” takes place in a small town in the Midwest. Based on the personal experiences of the author, this story describes the life of an old woman and her demise as she walks home from town one wintry day. Anderson wrote his published works during the first part of the 20th century, and this is the title story of a collection of short stories published in 1933. He is most well-known for his short story collections Winesburg, Ohio and The Triumph of the Egg, and he became influential to other great writers of his century, including Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.

Earlier editions of this story appeared in two other publications. This guide cites quotes by parts and paragraphs rather than page numbers. It references the original published version in his short story collection of the same name, Death in the Woods. The story itself has five parts told in a nonlinear fashion.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain references to unwanted sexual advances.

In the first part, the narrator, a young boy from a small town, describes an old woman’s early life as an orphan forced into indentured servitude for a German farmer and his wife.