Winesburg, Ohio: Hands Analysis

"Hands" is the story of Wing Biddlebaum and how he became the shell of a man he is today. The story contains many themes, allusions, and ideas within it. Wing Biddlebaum lives on the outskirts of town with minimal contact with the people of the town. Wing's primary features are his hands which could pick berries better and faster than anyone in town. The town proceeded to make him more of a grotesque when it is said "Winesburg was proud of the hands of Wing Biddlebaum in the same spirit in which it was of Banker White's new stone house and Wesley Moyer's bay stallion, Tony Tip, that had won the two-fifteen trot at the fall races in Cleveland"(5). This shows that the town cared more about his hands than they did as a person. His hands were his only worthwhile feature and everything else took a back seat to them which made Wing into more of a grotesque as people only knew him for his hands. The only person in town who Wing would open up to was George Willard. He would excitedly use his hands to hammer his point home when normally he would try his best to conceal and constrain them from being free. Wing tries to help George by saying "You are destroying yourself' he cried. 'You have the inclination to be alone and to dream and you are afraid of dreams. You want to be like others in town here. You hear them talk and you try to imitate them"(5). This shows that Wing wants George to talk and think for himself instead of being so heavily influenced by the people around him. He wants him to dream for himself and go out and try to realize his dream. He tries to further his point by speaking of his dream "In crowds the young men came to gather about the feet of an old man who sat beneath a tree in a tiny garden and who talked to them"(5). Wing wants George to understand that he has to find his own dream and then try to achieve it. In a sense Wing achieved his dream when he was a school teacher. He was put in charge to educate and talk to his students in order to make sure they were knowledgeable about many subjects. However his dream was shattered when "In his bed at night he imagined unspeakable things and in the morning went forth to tell his dreams as facts. Strange, hideous accusations fell from his loose-hung lips"(7). The half-witted boy single handedly destroyed Wing's dream. He was beaten and eventually run out of town based on one boys own imagination. Despite the fact that Wing's dream caused him to become the grotesque he is today, he still encourages George to follow his own dreams. He feels that it is worth it no matter what the outcome of chasing his dreams is. The opportunity to go for what you truly want out of life is too good to miss out on because of the possible consequences.