The Hand
“The Hand,” a short story by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, is a narrative of a young woman who is clearly newly married. At the beginning of the story, the wife is seen lying with her husband, whom she stares at as he sleeps. She is enjoying the new reality and “too happy to sleep” as she tells herself (272). The theme of this story the submissive role of women in relationships and marriage< (Explain what about it) .To explore this theme and show the way the author tells the story, the essay will discuss three literary elements: characterization and setting, symbolism and irony.
The characters in the story used are critical to elaborating the theme of the story as Colette reveals it. To clearly show that the characters are newly married the author uses the setting. This is on the bed with the man sleeping on the shoulders of his new wife; “ He had <(use colon) fallen asleep on his young wife’s shoulder, and she proudly bore the weight of the man’s head, blond, ruddy-complexioned, eyes closed” (272). The woman is very young, which furthers the argument that this is a rushed marriage, whom actual reality the woman might not have been aware of at the beginning. <(Explain)
The setting is critical to the realization of the actual reality<( Avoid using the same word, phrase repeatedly ) of this rushed marriage. Looking at the man, sleeping on her shoulder, the young woman in the story embraces reality of the situation. The careful look at the husband is critical to the opening up of this reality. She is young and gets married to a mature man whom she has known only for a month. Through the night, she comes to term with the fact that she does not actually know this man she has married. As the night progressed, the character is no longer able to face the man she married and becomes aware of the repulsive hands of the lover.
Imagery and symbolism are strongly evident in the “The Hand.” The image of the husband’s hand symbolizes a defining moment in the life of this girl who has made a naïve decision to get married at a tender age. This imagery can have numerous interpretations, but in this context it symbolizes power and dominance, which is an important theme in the story. The hand indicates the things that lure young women to get married young, such as the promise of having a “hand” that will protect and take care of them for the rest of their lives. However, the reality is that the same hand that she saw as a promise of care becomes repulsive as evidence in the ability of the woman to remain awake while the husband gets asleep. The hand is made into a dethatched<(spelling) entity from its owner when she uses it as waking up to the sounding screeching car<(this passage or word don’t quite work ,try again) . This idea of making the hand to have a separate identity symbolizes that husband’s side that the new blind did not know about. Through the night, Colette gives the hand two different shapes<( I only see you describing one) . The shape is that of a crab claw, showing the dominant and aggressive nature of the man. This nature becomes evident when the man has a dream and “dug into it (the sheets) with its curved fingers, squeezed, squeezed with the methodical pleasure of a strangler” (272).
Irony is used by the author in telling the story. It is ironic that the woman appears happy because of her new marriage when the reality is that her decision to marry young is a bad one and would cause her misery and sorrows in the long run. Her look during this morning appears to be astonishment and admiration of the new marriage and of the man he has married, but will soon realize the reality of her choice to be married at such a young age. On reading the opening of the story, the reader can be led to think that this is a couple that is happy and will know nothing more than happiness for the rest of their days together. She gets married, probably believing that the man will take care of her and fulfill his promises to her.
The reality of unbalanced<(connect to previous pargraph) power is evidenced in the domineering nature of man. Before going to the bed, all she knew was the promise this new marriage and husband held. However, as the night progressed, a character of the man is revealed that she did not know. She comes to term with the actual nature of the man, dominating and aggressive.
Colette tells the story of how naively a young girl falls in love believing in that she has made the right decision only to come to terms with the reality in the early days of marriages. The author uses some literary elements to tell this intriguing story. However, regardless of the opened reality, the new wife appears to have resigned to the destiny of an oppressive marriage. This is showed at the end of the story where the wife kisses the hand to symbolize a sacrifice to play the wife’s role.
Need some clarification throughout
Reference
Collette, Sidonie-Gabrielle. “The Hand.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 272. Print.<(hanging indent)
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