The Birthmark Identity

Body, Perception and Identity in ‘The Birthmark’ and ‘Hands’

Social sciences have often dealt with the relationship between a person’s body figure and his or her self-image. In this respect, the sociologist Carolina González Laurino (2008: 23) claims that “la construcción social de la identidad se encuentra en estrecha relación con la auto-percepción del cuerpo.” However, the image an individual has of his or her own figure may be affected by other people’s perception. In the case of “The Birthmark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “Hands,” by Sherwood Anderson, the body plays a central role because it determines the characters’ identities and the way they interact with others. It is the purpose of this essay to explore the ways in which
At first, some of her lovers admire the birthmark: “Many a desperate swain would have risked his life for the privilege of pressing his lips to the mysterious hand.” (Hawthorne 284) For this reason, Georgiana believes that the mark on her left cheek is a feature of which she should be proud. Later, however, this view of her mark changes due to the influence of her husband’s words and actions: after asking Aylmer about the words he uttered in his sleep and seeing his reaction –“Aylmer sat in his wife’s presence with a guilty feeling” (Hawthorne 286) – Georgiana urges Aylmer to remove the birthmark no matter the consequences: “let the attempt be made at whatever cost” (Hawthorne 286). Gradually, she starts to feel her husband’s hatred herself, and this repulsion is intensified to the point in which she would rather die than carry on living with the mark: “for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust, - life is a burden which I would fling down with joy” (Hawthorne
As a young man, he has a positive view of his hands because they are the means through which he expresses himself: “By the caress that was in his fingers he expressed himself.” (Anderson 31-32) However, when the community in Pennsylvania turns against him, the way in which they talk about the hands changes his perception of that part of his body: “Although he did not understand what had happened he felt that the hands must be to blame. Again and again the fathers of the boys had talked about the hands.” (Anderson 33). As a result, Wing constantly tries to conceal his hands, and every time he speaks to George, he tries to occupy them in some insignificant activity so as to prevent them from expressing something undesirable. However, one afternoon, when Wing is talking to the young reporter, he loses control of his hands for a moment and they move freely and caress the boy. This situation deeply disturbs Biddlebaum: “With a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprung to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trouser pockets- Tears came to his eyes” (Anderson