"The Hand" by Colette:
"The Hand" by Colette was creepy to me because at first I could not tell weather or not the guy was morphing into something or if it was just figurative. I feel like the imagery stood out the most to me because she went from loving his hand to being completely disgusted by it. The way Colette described the change in his hand made it easy to imagine what it would be like seeing it.
Colette used symbolism in "The Hand" to show how a marriage can be a nightmare if someone jumped into it too soon. She uses the hand as symbol of happiness as it should be when someone gives you their hand in marriage but later on in the story sheds light on what the hand really looks like. Leaving the reader to speculate about why all of the sudden was the hand so obscene to the newly wed wife. Colette insist that appearances are deceiving having her main character take a second look at her new husbands hand and suddenly discovering what it truly looks like. Displaying the old tale of someone only wants to see what they want to see and may not be getting the big picture about something important like marriage. Colette forces the newly married wife to kiss the hand at the end of the story to symbolize how women often sacrifice themselves in the role of wife.
If you found out a dark or sinister secret about your new husband/wife would you stay married to them like the main character in "The Hand" trying to push past the little imperfection?
--Melissa
Well done, Melissa! I liked how you clearly stated your literary element, symbolism, and your theme, marriage can be a nightmare if someone jumped into it too soon. You used support from the text, that the hand represented happiness in marriage and the wife's kissing of the hand, to back up your theme. I especially liked how you wrote "women often sacrifice themselves in the role of wife." This story echos that point perfectly. In regards to your question, if it was a little imperfection that I would stay with them. Since perfect characters only exist in fairytales, it's impossible to find someone who is “perfect.” If I suspected that my husband had killed his previous wife (which I believe the wife suspected), I would get the heck out of that marriage!
ReplyDeleteI believe when we search for a lover thats what we all try to find, a person who will except us for who we are, to the big ape hand and everything in between. So yes I would, I would have asked why they have done it and if it is a good answer then sure I would have had tried to work it out.
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