Hands by Sherwood Anderson - Essay Example

The story is about Wing Biddlebaum, a fat little old man from Winesburg, Ohio. Wing Biddlebaum was driven out of Pennsylvania, his original hometown, after he was falsely accused of molesting a young boy in a school where he used to teach. This happened because of his habit of caressing the boys’ hairs and shoulders whenever he talked to them. Wing’s seemingly uncontrollable hands manifest his grotesqueness. The central symbol of this story is hands, which figure as agents of conflicting aims of different characters and demonstrate Wing’s helplessness and vulnerability.

Discussion We are told that ‘Winesburg was proud of the hands of Wing Biddlebaum in the same spirit in which it was proud of Banker White's new stone house and Wesley Moyer's bay stallion’ (Anderson 16). His hands are a distinguished feature which amazes the citizens of Winesburg, but he seems not to notice and instead is afraid of them. Many citizens, including George Willard, have many times wanted to ask him about his hands and why he seemed frightened by their power. This fear of his hands shows his grotesque nature.

Wing hides his hands in fear that he might repeat the incident at the school. This is despite the fact that he had pure intentions in everything he did. ‘In a way, the voice and hands, the stroking of the shoulders and the touching of the hair was a part of the schoolmaster's efforts to carry a dream into the young minds.