Jason
Sims, SSRJ#2: Colette
Initial Personal Reaction: When I first started reading “ The Hand,” I was
kind of confused. I had to go back over the reading because I thought she was
talking about how much she was so in love her husband the whole time. When it
comes to find out she was actually in love with her husbands hand. When she
started talking about how she married a complete stranger, I started second
guessing my thoughts about the reading and thinking why would a woman marry
some one she just met? Then when I found out she was in love with his hand I
was like whoa!
Literary
Element/Thematic Analysis: “The Hand” in
this relationship, in my opinion, symbolizes a dysfunctional marriage. The
reason why is because the woman seem to be in love her husband’s hand and not
with the husband. She basically married his hand. “ The Hand” can also relate
to reality marriages, it may not be a hand that is the reason for someone to
marry someone and then later decide they didn’t want to be married, but it
could other things also. For example some people marry others for their money
and that never works out right in the end also. So I think Colette is trying to say you shouldn’t just marry
someone just because you like one thing about him or her, that’s a waste of
time!
Questions/Comments:
What do you think Colette’s
message is for this story?
What do you think the hand in
this story symbolizes?
I think her message is that marriage is binding and not something to take to lightly. It is an adult decision that comes with adult consequences. I feel the hand is kind of like the moment of realization for the main character. The hard truth of she will no longer be a little girl and the loss of her innocence too soon.
ReplyDeleteI think that Colette is saying through her characters that marriage is a sacred act to be held in high regard and honor. The hand symbolizes the consequences that may occur if someone rushes into marriage without thinking. Sad story. Good post.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you were willing to re-read the story. Stories like this are often symbolic enough that it takes a few tries to figure out what the hell the author is saying. It's interesting that you say that the girl fell in love with the hand, and that in a way the hand represents one element she focused on and fell in love with, rather than the whole man. Personally I think that she did not fall in love with the hand literally, but I agree that she fell in love with an element of her husband, and failed to analyze the rest of him. I think Colette's message for this story, especially as the setting is 1924, is that married women are required to give up their freedom and become "lesser" people than their husbands. It's cautionary. I think the hand symbolizes marriage, and the fact that the hand (or marriage) BELONGS to the husband in this story is no coincidence. Marriage back then swayed power in favor of the husband.
ReplyDeleteWill as I read this story, I think Colette was trying to say that don't judge by the looks because in the beginning it explain the husband beauty "long-lashes" "lips" and etc... and then the narrator goes on with "The hand" that symbolize the husband. That he might be different from the inside (she goes on with those horror in her mine). But I could be wrong with this. :)
ReplyDeleteI think Coletta is trying to say that marriage shouldnt be a spare the moment type of thing. You should be in love with that person, not in lust. So as for the hand thats her way of realizing what she has got herself into.
ReplyDeleteI think Colette is saying don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Just because the outside is nice does not mean the inside is the same. Just as the nail polish covers outer imperfections, his good looks have hidden his inner secrets. The hand is symbolic for the man, only when it is separate from him can she actually see through it all.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the hand represented a dysfunctional marriage, but the husband himself as his inner self that she does is not aware of. Due to the marriage being so quick, I thought she had felt terrified of the hand because she is observing her husband's physical features because it's so new to her. She hadn't notice how "terrifying" his hand was was symbolically terrified of her husbands unknown.
ReplyDelete