Editor's Choice
In "Hands", how does the first paragraph's imagery forecast later themes?
Quick answer:
The first paragraph of "Hands" uses imagery to foreshadow themes of loneliness, insecurity, and decay. It describes Wing Biddlebaum's decaying porch, a nearby ravine, and his "fat, little, old" appearance, suggesting emptiness and social barriers. The unexpected mustard weeds in his field symbolize life's unpredictability. The lively berry pickers contrast with Wing's isolation, while dust and departing light hint at decay. These images preview Wing's warped, solitary existence.
The richly-developed imagery in the scene of the first paragraph of Sherwood Anderson's "Hands" elegantly forecasts the themes to be developed later: loneliness, insecurity, decay, and a general grotesquerie. (What I mean by "grotesquerie" is a warping or stretching of both expectation and reality.)
Let's examine the details.
In the paragraph's first two sentences, imagery abounds. We see how the porch or "veranda" of Wing's small house is "half decayed," how the house is near a "ravine" (an empty ditch), how Wing himself is "fat," "little," and "old," and how his field was supposed to yield one thing but instead yielded something unexpected and perhaps useless: "mustard weeds" instead of "clover."
This is how I interpret those images as indicators of the story's themes:
1. The image of the decaying porch suggests old age, warping, and death.
2. The ravine suggests emptiness, perhaps even a social barrier.
3....
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Wing's "fat," "little," "old" body indicates old age and warping.
4. The field in which the wrong plant grew suggests warping.
All of those details together suggest that Wing's life and body, like his home and his field, are falling apart, decaying or even dying, warping into bizarre and unexpected forms, as if literally caving in--perhaps in response to a figurative emptiness or loneliness.
Let's keep reading, picking up on the third sentence ("The berry pickers..."). Now we see and hear the boisterous young berry pickers. The visual and auditory imagery of their flirtatious play ("leaped," "screamed," "protested shrilly") reveal exactly what Wing is missing out on: interaction with others, fun, youth, belonging, even flirtation and love. That theme of isolation arises here, too, when we see the berry pickers in all their lively action.
Next, in the fourth sentence ("The feet..."), we see that the boy has "kicked up a cloud of dust that floated across the face of the departing sun." Note the imagery: the dust, the departing light. Again, we're getting hints of those themes that will unfold in this story: old age, decay, and death.
From the fifth sentence ("Over the long field...") through the end of the paragraph, the image most salient is that of Wing's "nervous little hands" clawing at his "bare white forehead" as if to arrange hair that isn't there--he's bald. How unsettling. We don't know whether to feel sorry for Wing or feel appalled by him. Consider, again, the imagery suggesting decay, old age, and the grotesque warping of expectation and reality; it's as if Wing's fingers expect to find hair when they reach up to push it from his eyes, but the hair doesn't exist.
These disturbing images throughout the paragraph give us a clear preview of what's to come for Wing, and how his sad story of a warped and decaying life will unfold.
It is important to focus on the way in which the author uses the first image of this story to introduce the important and crucial theme of loneliness and alienation. This is shown through the initial image of Wing Biddlebaum walking up and down on his porch, hoping desperately that his one and only friend will pay him a visit. He is alone, and it is indicated that he is shunned by society, as the group of people he can see from his porch who make fun of him demonstrate. We are thus presented with a man who is lonely but desiring human connection in a world where he is shunned by society.
This initial image is one that is supported by the final image of the story, when Wing is still alone, but this time on his knees collecting breadccrumbs from the floor. Sandwiched in between these two vivid images of solitude are various memories that capture the experiences of Wing in his loneliness and isolation before he came to Ohio. The theme of isolation and how this impacts Wing is thus shown from the initial scene of this story.