Critical Analysis of Sherwood Anderson's “Hands” In “Hands,” Sherwood Anderson uses hands as a symbol to illustrate the theme of the character's grotesqueness as well as the grotesque nature of society . The narrator describes the story of a lonely teacher whose life has been altered by his inability to express himself. His faith in the possibility of communication and his eventual inability to achieve it reveal the grotesque nature of the individual and the community of which he is a part. The wing has become the structure of significant relationships that he has built in the past, thus influencing his existence by plunging him into an existential crisis. Much like an existential therapeutic effort of rediscovering the living person in the dehumanization of modern culture, Anderson goes deep into his character's soul to rediscover glimpses of his lost humanity and determine the causes of his dehumanization. The story begins by representing the protagonist's disconnected identity, which is revealed as he nervously walks on the 'half-ruined veranda...', which together with the ravine symbolizes the alienated environment in which he lives. The berry pickers instead portray the landscape of a jubilant environment, where young men and women can laugh, scream, shout and protest while Wing can only watch, fidget with his hands and remain silent. Wing Biddlebaum is an anxious personality, who cannot find enough courage to free himself from the tormenting chains of his past. Despite having escaped from his previous life, where he bore the name of Adolph Myers, he refuses to live a better one, mechanically succumbing to isolation. The narrator presents him as an outsider who is unable to adapt to society due to his hands sense...... middle of paper ...... of using "hands" or "imprisoned bird ". He added the qualifier “something like” in “with George Willard.” . . had formed something like a friendship' instead of 'he was still hungry for the boy' he wrote 'he was still hungry for the boy's presence' to avoid any misunderstandings in the relationship between Wing and George as he had identified them were more likely to occur. However, most of the word and sentence revisions were done only once. Anderson's first draft of the story must have seemed adequate to him, as it demonstrates his commitment to the humblest prose, using short, uncomplex sentences, directness, simple vocabulary, and characterization as a narrative technique that establishes intimacy with the character in order to provide a chance for the reader to peer deeply into the soul of a man.Bibliography