Sandra Character Analysis

The character of Sandra in Connie Gault’s short story called “The Man Who Followed His Hand” is shaped by the life that she has; she alienates herself from her family and community, thus making her an outsider trapped in a life she doesn’t want for herself. Connie Gault develops Sandra’s character by her thoughts and the way she interacts with other people. The party that Sandra and his husband hosted shows her isolation from her family and community.

Sandra hates the party and doesn’t prepare for it; she forgets “to put the wine in the fridge” and her “hair [is] still wet from the shower” when the guests arrive (p.68).

She refuses to interact with their guests, “[offending] the women by refusing to allow them into her kitchen” for instance (p68). She isolates herself because she thinks that the guests “wanted only to do what other did and not be embarrassed [and] be revealed for what they [really] are” (p.

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76). She expects more from the people around her but then she thinks that she should be the one to “change rather than [try] to change everyone else” (p.72). She would rather be speechless especially when it comes to his husband because there’s an unspoken anger between them.

When Sandra meets the man who follows his hand, she admires him because he depends only on himself and he makes his own path. Sandra envies the man because he can do whatever he wants and she can’t.

She wants to dance with the man and cry very hard; she wants to fight with his husband to break the wall that has been built between them but she remains a coward, fearful of speaking up her own thoughts and feelings. Throughout the story, Sandra’s actions and thoughts gives her a strong character, although she mainly shows it by isolation and inability to achieve her freedom.