# Wash Williams — Winesburg, Ohio character guide

> Wash Williams in Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Williams, old Wash, Wash

**First appearance:** 0014-respectability

## Snapshot

The ugliest man in Winesburg, a once-celebrated telegraph operator whose ruined marriage turned him into a poet of hatred.

## Who they are

Wash Williams sits in his dirty telegraph office by day and drinks unbelievable quantities of beer by night, hating women with the same abandon he once loved his young wife. He keeps his hands clean and shapely, still proud of being the best operator in the state, and he pities men for letting their lives be managed by some bitch or another. His bitterness is so complete it commands a strange respect, and the story he eventually tells George Willard explains everything.

## In the story

### [Respectability](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/respectability)

The telegraph operator, grotesque and bitter, tells George Willard the story of his failed marriage and his hatred of women.

## Links

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