Paper Pills - Sherwood Anderson

Anderson's writing is completely symbolic and metaphorical. It's interesting how she sets up the story and informs the reader about the entire story and how it ends. Then after going into explicit detail about how the story unfolds and the end result. This creates a type of aware pensiveness which draws in the reader to find the how and just the ending. She perfectly sets up the story about the the Doctor/Old man and who he was and how he was viewed amongst other people and how he influenced his wife.

At first glance the reader is lead to think that the wife dies literally but on page 3 it states " he worked ceaselessly, building up something that he himself destroyed." What he destroyed is the old person he wife was before she met him with the sweet and rare deliciousness of his hands - or influence. Anderson plays with time by using the seasons, and planned out sentence structures in order to not create a uniform time stream of events. Sherwood ended it with clarity that if not paid close to could throw off the reader. Fall - marriage, Spring - she dies; metaphorically, but then Anderson moves back into the Winter where the Doctor read her all of his notes and thoughts, but don't forget it took her a year to die and Sherwood states, "After the tall girl came to know Doctor Reefy it seemed to her that she never wanted to leave him again. She went into his office one morning and without her saying anything he seemed to know what happened to her." Sherwood is playing with ambiguity. The tall dark girl would have never understood the doctors thoughts if she was never presented with the two men - one who talks of virginity and secret desire and the other who lustfully took her every moment.
Lastly, the titles Paper Pills is almost a pun as to say that the Doctor killed his wife with and overdoes of knowledge.