# Elmer Cowley — Winesburg, Ohio character guide

> Elmer Cowley in Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cowley, Elmer

**First appearance:** 0021-queer

## Snapshot

A young man tormented by the conviction that he is different, he aches to be ordinary and cannot stop proving he is not.

## Who they are

Elmer Cowley lives in Winesburg as an outsider among outsiders, desperate to shed the strangeness he feels clinging to him. His father's odd habits and the family's reputation only deepen his isolation, and his attempts to connect with George Willard keep collapsing into frustration. He embodies the town's deepest fear, that one might be seen as queer and never recover from it.

## Relationships

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_psychological_

Elmer Cowley is paranoid and hostile toward George, seeing him as a representative of the normal world that rejects him.

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_psychological_

Elmer Cowley is paranoid and hostile toward George, seeing him as a representative of the normal world that rejects him.

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_psychological_

Elmer Cowley is paranoid and hostile toward George, seeing him as a representative of the normal world that rejects him.

## In the story

### [Queer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/queer)

The protagonist of the chapter, consumed by the fear of being 'queer' and desperate to escape Winesburg.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/elmer_cowley
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters