In the piece "The Hand" Colette describes how a women sees a mans hand from afar then how it really looks close up. Colette discusses how the women sees his "strong" hand so far away from the mans body. The women admired the hand at first. The women admired that it was big, had hair on it, that it was masculine. Then Colette writes how the hand transforms into something not so admirable. She discusses how once the man gets startled and jolts the hand begins to look like something different. With the women still watching the hand starts to stiffen and appear apelike. Colette writes "It looks like a crab, ready for battle." Which in turn startles the women and makes her gasp. The women is surprised at this new site of the hand which she had never noticed before. Colette uses this symbolism of the hand transforming to discuss the fact that people jump into marriages to quickly before they are able to see someone for who they truly. People get married before they really know someone up close. Before they see someones good and bad qualities. The women in Colette's story is almost disgusted with what she see's after the hand turns into something ugly. She doesn't even see how she was able to kiss that hand. Colette had the women not notice the ugliness before all the women saw was someone she admired so after only after a month of knowing the man they became married.
I think this story is very relevant to recent times. With the divorce rate so high (over 60%) , I think people get married to quickly. People get married before they actually know someone then once they start to see that whole person, they don't like what they see. So they end up getting a divorce over noticing something they never noticed before.
I agree with your last comment. This story is totally highlight those specific points/problems with marriage these days. AMEN!
ReplyDeleteSo true. I think the only difference between this story and real life is that this story i a bit more exaggerated to emphasize that point. The story has all these grotesque descriptions so that we would stop and think about what marriage does and how you have to know a person very well before you actually commit yourself to them in marriage.
DeleteI think your comment could be true but feel like it has more to do with social influences now days. I think people are taking a lot longer now then they did back then to get married because they can live together now. Also it is not frowned upon anymore to have premarital sex so people are not jumping in marriage for that reason either. I think that today it is more about people changing and growing apart more then anything else.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you on the rushing into marriage issue. People need to be able to handle responsibilities before they rush into marriage. It is sad to see the immorality of this country get worse every year; now the sacred institution of marriage means nothing to many people. How sad! Really good insight.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Sometimes people can be blinded by the infatuation stage, and mistake that for love when it could very well not be the case. I don't believe in love at first sight or being in true love within a short time of knowing each other. I think you have to get to truly know a person inside and out to say you are really in love with them, and that requires time.
ReplyDeleteI truly agree with your conclusions some people who get married too soon are in love with the idea of being in love.Therefore when they get married too fast, they may not realize it until they marry someone they do not know or really love.
ReplyDeleteI also agree. I am not sure that was the author’s intended message but that is the best part about literature, a piece can still have relevance even if it’s almost a hundred years old.
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