Characteristics of Life in Winesburg, Ohio
Anderson threads together the stories with the unifying element of hands. The first story of the novel is titled "Hands." In this story a middle-aged man named Wing Biddlebaum is a school teacher to young boys. In order to convey his passion for the subjects he obliviously caresses their heads and shoulders. Wing uses his hands to express his enthusiasm for teaching.
References to the hands of the main characters of the stories are made throughout the novel. In the next story, "Paper Pills," the doctor's knuckles are described as being " extraordinarily large. When the hands were closed they looked like clusters of unpainted wooden balls as large as walnuts fastened together by steel rods" (Anderson 35). Yet another reference is made to hands in "The Philosopher." Tom Willy's hands were said to have, "That flaming kind of birthmark that sometimes paints with red the faces of men and women had touched with red Tom Willy's fingers and the backs of his hands" (Anderson 49). In "Respectability," the only clean thing about Wash Williams is his hands. He is otherwise a grotesque, filthy man. The hands that are described as "sensitive and shapely" in no...
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