SSRJ#3- Colette
I thought this piece was very interesting as it took a simple event usually overlooked and made a great piece of literature out of it. At first I was questioning what this piece was about but as I read on I begin to enjoy it more and more. I find it humorous how we as humans can take notice to every detail on certain things as revealed in “The Hand”. Colette allows for a broader interpretation of marriage. She gives insight into beyond the ordinary description of marriage. Colette uses the husbands hand as a symbolic instrument as the recently married wife analyzes it. As she is analyzing the hand she is detailing the events leading up to there estranged marriage. Describing a cozy yet uncomfortable feeling as he lay their resting she is picking out flaws in his hand. I believe as she is picking out the flaws in the hand it may symbolize her fear of what is ahead in the marriage. In this short story Colette is disguising an accurate interpretation of love and marriage. The question I would love to be answered is, does love justify marriage? How could these two be in “love” after only meeting months ago.
I wondered the same thing, they had only known each other for a short amount of time yet they loved one another. I don't think it takes a certain amount of time to fall in love, but the young woman didn't seem to know him very well. Perhaps it was just infatuation, but toward the end of the story she seemed to be able to overcome the dislike she had for his hand because of the love she had.
ReplyDeleteI generally agreed with your interpretation of the story. However, I did not enjoy the story so much. I felt that the author did convey her main ideas, but that the story was uncomfortable in the way the woman seems to personify the hand and how it becomes something out of a childs' boogeyman nightmare. I think its fun that you enjoyed that story and thought it clever.
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