“Hands” Sherwood Anderson

1. “Hands” Sherwood Anderson By: The Thunder

2. Your Hands • Grab a piece of paper and whatever supplies that you would like to use. Draw a outline of your hand and then decorate it with your likes/dislikes. Pictures, words, etc. Use lots of color. Draw whatever you would like. • Leave space to answer the following questions on each of the finger tips. (About a sentence or so)

3. YOUR HANDS

4. What do you think? • What are hands? • What do you think the significance of the hands is? • What significance does the hands hold in the story as a whole? • Discuss it with your group.

5. Summary of the story • Wings has issues communicating with his hands. • He has these problems because of the way he was treated in his last town. • Wing has difficulties opening up to George • George is dying to ask him the question: Why do you act the way you do with your hands?

6. Biography of Sherwood Anderson • Born September 13th, 1976 in Clyde, Ohio • Literary style influenced by Gertrude Stein, who he felt revolutionized the language of narrative

7. Wing Biddlebaum ~ School teacher in Pennsylvania ~ Fat little old man ~ Frightened by past ~ Loses timidity in presence of friend George Willard ~ Talked much with his hands ~ Town Mystery ~ His hands alarmed him ~ Beating his hands made him more comfortable ~ In Winesburg his hands became his distinguishing feature, source of his fame ~ His hands have something to do with his fear of everyone George Willard ~ Friend of Wing Biddlebaum ~ Respected Wing Biddlebaum ~ Reporter on the Winesburg Eagle ~ Had an overwhelming curiosity about Biddlebaum’s hands Main Characters

8. Conflict • “In the presence of George Willard, Wing Biddlebaum, who for twenty years had been the town mystery, lost something of his timidity, and his shadowy personality, submerged in a sea of doubts, came forth to look at the world” • “He was one of those men in whom the force that creates life is diffused, not centralized. Under the caress of his hands doubt and disbelief went out of the minds of the boys and they began also to dream.”

9. More Conflict • First sign of conflict - “a fat little old man walked nervously up and down” • Himself vs. Others: Looked upon as an outcast, didn’t have a relationship with anyone but George 

10. “Wing Biddlebaum, forever frightened and beset by a ghostly band of doubts” - What does he doubt? - His way of expression was through his hands “The slender expressive fingers, forever active, forever striving to conceal themselves in his pockets or behind his back, came forth and became the piston rods of his machinery of expression.” - Because people were alleging that he sexually abused the kids, and then kicked him out of the city, this took his foremost form of communication away from him. The conflict that he suffers through out the story is he can’t express himself. - Imagine what would happen if you couldn’t communicate, what would happen to your life? Would you still be considered normal? Himself vs. Himself

11. Others vs. Others Others vs. Others: “They had intended to hang the schoolmaster, but something in his figure, so small, white, and pitiful, touched their hearts and they let him escape. As he ran away into the darkness they repented of their weakness and ran after him, swearing and throwing sticks and great balls of soft mud at the figure that screamed and ran faster and faster into the darkness.” • Conflict Based on Situation: While picking strawberries and with George G. Willard

12. Rising Actions • The rising action in this story was Wing being banished from one town, and not feeling apart of the town he lived for twenty years. - The answer lies within his hands. - Wing Biddlebaum’s hands are the answer to the identity, and the question everyone wants answered. The rising action is developed around his hands, and builds the question why. • His hands as an identity are: - How he got his name.(His hands move like wings.) - It’s what George is most curious about, but won’t ask the question. - The answer to Wing’s hands, is the connection to understanding Wing. The connection he is trying to hide.

13. Climax • The climax of the story is that Adolph Myers (Wing Biddlebaum) was beaten by one of the boy's dads and he was driven from the town by a dozen men who went to his house planning to kill him.

14. Significance of Physical Touch“The Hands” • People interpret physical touch in different ways. ~Normal/Offensive • Wing Biddlebaum was very expressive through his hands • One of his students lied(?) that he had touched him and other students inappropriately, and the town came after him and beat him. • He hides his hands now, living a new life in Winesberg, Ohio. He lives in isolation and doesn’t communicate well with others, without using his hands.

15. Epiphany & Knowledge • The epiphany in the story was when Adolph Myers (Wing Biddlebaum) realized that what he had done to the boys with his hands (touching and caressing them) was wrong and that was why he got attacked. Because of that, he always tried to hide his hands or keep them busy so that he wouldn't touch anyone.

16. Topics to be discussed: • Do you think it was right or wrong in his use of touch in his last town? Do you think he feels that he is wrong in his actions? Why or why not? • Why do you think he used touch to communicate with the children? • Why does the town feel remorse in the middle of beating him? ~What is the interpretation of wing’s touching? • Why has George befriended Wing? • Why does George not ask about wing’s hands?