The story under the title "Nobody Knows" was written by an outstanding American writer Sherwood Anderson, well-known for using implication, the style of sober realism and depicting strange characters in his works, the most famous from which is his book "Winesburg, Ohio".
The main character of the story is George Willard, a man who tries to court a young lady - Louise Trunnion. The whole story depicts a short period of time, so the author lets us trace all the events.
From the very beginning we see that George wasn't in love with Louise, though it may seem so. He wanted to visit her, but doubted: "all day he had been trying to make up his mind to go through with the adventure". A number of nouns and adjectives like "in the darkness", "pitch dark" convey his state of being nervous, and intensify his doubts, preparing the reader for further events. "There had been no decision", "He didn't dare think" - those short sentences show his fear and confidence, and the author proves it: "In his mind there was a fear". Even when he met her, his fear didn't leave him.
The sentence given by the author makes everything clear: "The whispered tales concerning her that had gone about town gave him confidence". She was a mere prostitute and George wanted nothing but her: "He became wholly the male, bold and aggressive". Love was out of the question: "In his heart there was no sympathy for her".
Realizing all this we can formulate the problem tackled by the author - in their wishes people are contemptible, though desiring to stay clear face to face. To prove it we can mention the fact that George Willard thought over his adventure the whole day, but on his way to Louise he tried to avoid all people passing him in the street.
So, summing up all we know about Sherwood Anderson and his characters we can say that the controlling idea of the story conveyed by the author sounds like this - people want to get rid of their loneliness, want to find support and warmth in others, but the discrepancy between their dreams and reality is too large.
If to speak about the story, it's told in the 3rd person narrative and interlaced with descriptive passages. The prevailing mood of the story is rather pessimistic, as we for example come across the town drunkard lying asleep on the ground, and there's nothing bright in the life of town inhabitants.
The composition of the story isn't complicated. The introduction lets us enter in the course of events and acquaints us with the character. The development of the plot is seen in the meeting of George with Louise. And the culminating point begins with the sentence "A flood of words burst from George Willard". In the denouement the pair walks along narrow bride sidewalks, as if nothing has happened.
It would be wise to mention here that even the title of the story helps us to draw the conflict between a man and society - nobody knows what's going on in my inner world, nobody cares what I am in this world.
As for me, I find the story quite deep and thought-provoking, making us reestimate our values in this life.
