THE HAND

(by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette)

I. Critical Analysis:

In our American society, females in a marriage or relationship are portrayed through the stereotypical
'submissive role,' which has become so common that is has often been expected of the female. In juncture
with this subservient role, the male's dominance originates back to the beginning of the human race, and
relations between a man and a woman. These roles were thus formed by the physical ability of the male
dominating over the female in most situations. Even in today's era, with the improvements and developments
in equal rights and women's right, this passivity of women is still presently seen through society, as depicted
through "The Hand" written by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette by literary techniques such as mood, imagery,
conflict, symbolism, and other elements. It seems well enough that these roles are inbred into our society; a
male is raised to take charge and dominate, and a female is taught to conform, and that their place is behind a
man, and not alongside of him. In "The Hand," the author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette conveys the submissive
role of women and how it is so expected that from fear of changing the situation due to societal views,
women often conform to a male's dominance.

As the young bride's husband sleeps, the wife remains awake, supporting his head proudly so that he may rest
in comfort. In western society during this time, women were taught to provide support and be soothing
towards their husbands in order to ease their live. Yet, as the husband sleeps, Colette makes sure to display
that he still holds the power between the two beings. The young bride, meanwhile fears of moving and
disrupting his sleep, illustrating to readers that society has unconsciously forced a sense of authority over her,
even if the young man did not force it upon her. When the husband twitches, the bride blames her and states
in paragraph 8, "I'm so heavy; I wish I could get up and turn the light off. But he is sleeping so well." With all
that the young bride has learned through the teachings of society, she, as a submissive female, must do all that
she can to satisfy her husband, even if it entails sacrificing her own comfort for his. In the following
paragraph (paragraph 9), Colette writes, "the arm twisted again, feebly, and she arched her back to make
herself lighter." Unconsciously, whether the young bride is aware of it or not, she is displaying obedient and
passive behavior towards her husband, succumbing to his ever want and need, and eventually resulting in her
unfulfilled life as a young woman.

As time progresses, and the newlywed couple continue to lay together, the young wife begins to notice small
features of her husband's hand. She states, in paragraph 15, "The thumb stiffened itself out, horribly long and
1
spatulate, and pressed tightly against the index finger, so that the hand suddenly took on a vile, apelike
appearance." In this hand, which she once regarded with fondness, she now sees a disturbing image, and
through the use of words exclaims that the thumb and index finger, now pressed together, took on a sexual
form, a sight that unnerved her immensely. With newly found astonishment, she becomes disgusted by the
sight of her husband's hand, and due to her naivety because of society's limitations and expectations, she
exclaims in paragraph 16, "Oh!" Her exclamation of "Oh!" demonstrates that her fears pronounce her
awareness about his hand: strong and in a disconnect way; it belongs to a man who exercises authority,
possibly unjustly and oppressively. She, overwhelmed by the lack of position in this relationship becomes
frightened, and sees her fears, in herself and in her marriage. In this hand, she discovers that the true disgust
lies not in the marriage, but within her own internal self.

Colette continues to tell the story of the young bride and her husband and throughout it, uses character
description to emphasize the unbalance of power. In their relationship (as well as in many others during this
time) the husband overpowers the wife, both physically and emotionally. The young wife was describe in
paragraph 1 as "slim and adolescent," while the husband on the other hand was described (also in paragraph 1)
as having physical and mental prowess, being a "handsome, blond young man, recently widowed, good at tennis and
rowing" Through these words, Colette depicts to the readers the evident roles of the sexes. The author then
proceeds to develop the image of the husband's arms and claims that he has hands that are larger than the
young wife's head and "powerful knuckles and the veins engorged by the pressure on his arm," as seen in
paragraph 13. By using these words to depict a character, Colette demonstrates imagery- illustrating a man
that is almost an animal of sorts. This is supported through the young wife's exclamation in paragraph 10,
where she states, "It's as if I were lying on some animal." In this notion, the animal is something that takes
control, and can been seen as offering no mercy. This hand of the young wife's husband, has begun to take
on a whole new form, which worries her, and shows to readers all of the troubles she faces, as a submissive
part in this relationship.

Through characterization, Colette expresses features of the husband as a tool that exemplifies the imbalance
of power between the man and the woman. Pronouncing that the husband has a hand that "took on a vile,
apelike appearance," and "lowered its claws, and became a pliant beast," (as seen in paragraphs 15 and 17) bears
the image of a dominate male who controls the relationship, and shows the submissive female fearing the
authority that is imposed upon her. In all aspects of the relationship, the male uses his physical supremacy to
augment his position. The feeble wife remains in her position, too terrified of what the dominance may do to
her if she were to wake him. Disregarding the fact that the young wife is discomforted by the light in her
room, and she desperately wants to turn it off, she relinquished the need, in order to not bother her husband.

2
The imagery of the room as well as the characters support the notion of sexual roles in society, and depict
how a woman must do the accepted thing, as asked by her, in the presence of men. Sidonie Colette points out
the young wife's room in paragraph 3 as "apricot-pink through which the first light of day filtered into the
room where she had slept as a little girl." Through this she states that the young wife was associated with light
colors that resemble femininity: pink, red, apricot, yellow, etc- while her husband is related to colors of blues
and greens, colors of masculinity. In this bedroom that the young couple share, the curtains are a shade of
"periwinkle," a mixture of blue and purple, which resembles that the blue is more dominant in this color, and
essentially, in the marriage. By making the statement that the young bride had slept in a room that was
previously the color of pink is necessary in supporting the notion that she has conformed and accepted the
ways of the male, taking on his natural color as her own. It is not as though the couple room was painted the
color of red or dark pink; rather, it is now a color that resembles a male, and his authority, his dominance
over her own meek person.

As the story develops, the young bride notices a darker side to her husband. Prior to her epiphany of her
marriage, the young bride did not realize that she was unconsciously succumbing to her husband's desires and
did not notice that he had any power over her. Upon coming to the understanding of the hand, the wife
realizes his physical potential to inflict harm. Although, it seems as though the husband is anything but
abusive towards his wife; it is not stated that he actually torments his wife purposely and he seems to be quite
the gentleman, especially in paragraph 22 where the husband says, "Do you want this slice, darling? I'll butter
it for you." Metaphorically, Colette shows the readers that through the young wife's thoughts and beliefs, the
hand could cause explicit damage. In this story, the hand is one of the greatest symbols used to demonstrate
the roles of sexes. Through the wife's imagination, the hand takes on the characteristics of an animal. This is
quite similar to the barbaric-life role of a dominating male in a relationship.

In paragraph 17, Colette writes, that the hand is "offended, reared back and tensed up in the shape of a crab
and waited, ready for battle." When the wife becomes disgusted with her husband's hand, it begins to take on
animal-like qualities, as if it were offended and now takes a defensive stance. Not only does the hand impose
symbolism, but this type of behavior is a metaphor for the two roles in many relationships. During this
century, the male is often the controlling one in a dominant-submissive marriage. If the wife does not comply
and follow specific orders and requests, the husband may lash out and strike, whether through physical or
verbal, or even emotional matters. In most cases, upon the hurt emotions of the wife, the male, (due to such
dominating and proud qualities) denies any sort of behavior on his part. There is support in this notion,
found in paragraph 19, where Colette writes that the hand "appeared to respond to this startling discovery,
this disgust. It regrouped its forces" Through the use of diction, Colette symbolizes the hand as a male who
becomes defensive upon knowing that he is guilty of an act he may have performed, but by "regrouping its
3
forces" the male does not accept any form of responsibility. So, in a sense, the hand is both a symbol and a
metaphor for the couple's dominating and submissive marriage.

By the time the short story begins to come to a conclusion, the young wife has realized the power her
husband holds over her. Ironically, as it seems that society would not deem this plausible, Colette signifies
that the young wife has the ability to free herself from this unfulfilling destiny in which she will always be
displeased and feel as though her husband's hand is choking her. After all, the young woman is extremely
feeble and hopeless when it comes to the grueling effects of a male, especially in such a marriage. Through
diction, Colette demonstrates that the hand is encompassing everything that has to do with the young wife's
life, including her fear of men and intimacy. Colette shows that the wife fears intimacy by stating in
paragraph 15 that the hand "spatulated," which refers to a sexual symbol that worries the young woman.
Regardless of what society may allow, the young woman chooses to succumb in this relationship. The final
line in paragraph 25, "Then she concealed her fear, bravely subdued herself, and, beginning her life of duplicity, of resignation,
and of a lowly, delicate diplomacy, she leaned over and humbly kissed the monstrous hand" expresses to the readers that
not only did the young woman decide not to change her situation but she also accepted her role as a
submissive partner in her marriage.

One may believe that the young woman chose security in the dominate role, as opposed to her independence,
because it was easier for her. In these sorts of relationships, women are comfortable knowing that they do not
have to make any decisions on their own, and are assured that it is normal to uphold such a submissive and
passive role in the marriage. As it is probably the case with this newlywed bride, most women are too naive to
even make their own decisions, as they have never done so before, being controlled by a dominate male in
their adolescent life or their husband. Being an adolescent, the young wife did not know of any other love
and was experiencing a new life, something that to her, was scandalous and exciting, similar to a "kidnapping,"
as she states in paragraph 3. In the young bride's perspective, the submissive role is much easier to attend to
as it is more familiar than an independent role, similar to a man's.

Colette depicts many of the reasons for the reasons of the roles of dominance and submission. Beginning
quite a long time ago with the domineering male role, the female was naturally obliged to take up the assumed
passive role in the relationship. Forced to obey the rules, physically and emotionally, the women complied
with the expected behavior and were only given the opportunity to escape from these roles during the
advancements in women's rights of the early 1920s. In "The Hand," the young wife draws in her mind a
symbol of her marriage to the handsome young man, and through her fears of reality, readers learn that her
marriage to the young man is, in reality, a misguided justification for love. The newlywed bride is strangled by
4
the marriage, and is choked by her husband's power; she is forced to be happy, when she certainly is not.
Through the disgust the young bride has for the hand and the abhorrence of her marriage, Colette creates a
theme of a love that is forced and what the roles of the sexes entail. Women continue to accept the roles
imposed upon them as they have for thousands of years before. Neither man nor woman want to set out to
change these roles, and society plays a great degree in ensuring that these roles are taught to the younger
generation at an early age, ensuring that a woman knows her place in the future- behind a man, and never
completely equal to him.

II. My Reflection:

For me, I find "The Hand" by Colette scary because at first I could not tell whether or not the guy was
switching into something or if it was just figurative. I feel like the imagery stood out the most to me because
she went from loving his hand to being completely disgusted by it. The way that the author described the
story is about the change in his hand made it easy to imagine what it would be like seeing it.

Colette used symbolism in "The Hand" to show how a marriage can be a nightmare if someone jumped into
it too soon. She uses the hand as symbol of happiness as it should be when someone gives you their hand in
marriage but later on in the story sheds light on what the hand really looks like. Leaving the reader to
speculate about why all of the sudden was the hand so obscene to the newly wed wife. Colette insist that
appearances are deceiving having her main character take a second look at her new husbands hand and
suddenly discovering what it truly looks like. Displaying the old tale of someone only wants to see what they
want to see and may not be getting the big picture about something important like marriage. Colette forces
the newly married wife to kiss the hand at the end of the story to symbolize how women often sacrifice
themselves in the role of wife.

III. Symbolisms:

1. The Hand – its symbolism is crucial to understanding the exploration of femininity and masculinity.
The husband’s hand represents masculinity, and the pink mentioned in different shades represents
femininity.

5
2. Periwinkle - a color that can either refer to a purple-blue or a soft pink-purple. This familiar object is
periwinkle because femininity is familiar to her. Her mouth, another familiarity to her, is also
described as being pink.
3. Curtains in blue - Blue is typically associated with being male. The change from pink curtains to blue
represents her transition from only knowing about females to finding out more about males. She is a
newlywed and never had to pay attention to, or acknowledge, the male aspect of life.
4. Spatulated – refers to a sexual symbol that worries the young woman.
5. The knife -

IV. The Underlined:

a. Varnish and pink polish don’t go with a hand so… a hand that’s so…”
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.
b. An electric jolt ran though the hand and spared the young woman from having to find the right
adjective. The thumb stiffened itself out, horrible long and spatulate, and pressed tightly against the
index finger, so that the hand suddenly took on a vile, apelike appearance.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________.

c. Then she concealed her fear, bravely subdued herself and beginning her life of duplicity, of
resignation, and of a lowly, delicate diplomacy, she leaned over and humbly kissed the monstrous
hand.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________.