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Sherwood Anderson’s short story, Hands, revolves around the themes of being grotesque and being lonely. The author illustrated these themes through the story’s main character, Wing Biddlebaum, who was driven out of his original hometown after he was accused of molesting a young boy in the school which he used to teach in when he caressed the boy’s hair and shoulders using his hands. In short, Wing’s seemingly “uncontrollable” hands symbolized his grotesqueness.
Although Wing had pure intentions in everything he did, his own fear that he might repeat the incident at the school forced him to live in isolation, which also shows that he is lonely.
His only friend was George, who was depicted as his “pupil” and who exhibited the same passion in writing as Wing did in teaching. Basically, from the themes that the author presented in the story, it can be deduced that even though Wing had problems controlling his hands, he still was in fact a normal person as shown in his friendship with George.
This was best illustrated when Wing was about to touch George the same way that he touched the boy at the school using his hands but was able to refrain from doing so.
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He also gave George advice in his career as a reporter for a newspaper, which showed that he wanted to help the boy and not harm him or sexually harass him In addition, the author portrayed that throughout the whole story that when Wing caressed the young boy’s hair and shoulders at the school, he never meant to sexually harass him.
His actions were only misinterpreted by the parents of the boy as sexual in nature which eventually led to his isolation.
Moreover, the author depicted Wing as a person who still desired human connection but feared doing so because of his “uncontrollable hands. ” In other words, Wing’s apparent “grotesque” nature, which was symbolized by his hands, was not his fault but the fault of the people and the world around him. It was their perception of Wing that made him grotesque and not his own hands.
Anderson, Sherwood. 2004. Hands. 14 April 2008.
Analysis of Sherwood Anderson’s Short Story Hands. (2017, Mar 17). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/analysis-of-sherwood-andersons-short-story-hands-essay
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