However, the experience in Pennsylvania causes him to be like an "imprisoned bird". He wants to keep spreading his movement of influencing children to pursue their dreams but is still fearful of his past experience. For example, Wing claims, "Pausing in his speech, Wing Biddlebaum looked long and earnestly at George Willard. His eyes glowed. Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look of horror swept over his face. ith a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprang to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets. Tears came to his eyes. 'I must be getting along home. I can talk no more with you,' he said nervously."Actually, his hands clenched in a fist when talking to George act as a continual caveat from his beating in Pennsylvania that he cannot spread his movement anymore to children. Even in the beginning of the story we see Wing looking through the yellow "tall mustard weeds" to the berrypickers. Tall has the denotation of a proud or confident movement, and yellow has the connotation of a warning. Thus, Wing wants to spread his movement but cannot out of fear from his past.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Wing Biddlebaum...A Jesus Like Figure?
"Hands"is an interesting story about a former school teacher named Wing Biddlebaum who lives in Winesburg, Ohio and seems to abnormally express himself with his hands. I believe that he parallels Jesus Christ in the way that he suffers for the expression of a movement. For example, Wing Biddlebaum tells George, "You must try to forget all you have learned," said the old man. "You must begin to dream. From this time on you must shut your ears to the roaring of the voices."Similar to Jesus spreading the monotheistic belief of Christianity, I believe that Wing is trying to spread the concept of pursuing one's dreams. Through the expression of his hands, he is trying to carry a "dream into the young minds" of children. The concept of spreading his movement is further exemplified through passage that describes him as a "one of those men in whom the force that creates life is diffused, not centralized."This also relates to Jesus Christ in the way that many biblical pictures portray him as putting his hand on a child as if he was blessing them. Wing Biddlebaum/Adolph Myers suffers for the expression of his movement when a child becomes "enamored" of him and the whole town of Pennsylvania begins to view him as a pedophile. In fact, Henry Bradford actually began to "beat him with his fists" in response to the false notion of his pedophilia. This beating of fists is parallel to the torture that Jesus Christ went through during his movement to spread Christianity. One of the passages in the story actually seems to allude to the Roman Empire when Wing claims, "In the picture men lived again in a kind of pastoral golden age. Across a green open country came clean-limbed young men, some afoot, some mounted upon horses. 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. Wing Biddlebaum became wholly inspired." This parallel to the Roman Empire helps to support the idea of Wing spreading a movement similar to Jesus Christ. In fact, Anderson seems to be playing on the word "wholly" which sounds similar to holy and further supports Wing as a Jesus like figure.
However, the experience in Pennsylvania causes him to be like an "imprisoned bird". He wants to keep spreading his movement of influencing children to pursue their dreams but is still fearful of his past experience. For example, Wing claims, "Pausing in his speech, Wing Biddlebaum looked long and earnestly at George Willard. His eyes glowed. Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look of horror swept over his face. ith a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprang to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets. Tears came to his eyes. 'I must be getting along home. I can talk no more with you,' he said nervously."Actually, his hands clenched in a fist when talking to George act as a continual caveat from his beating in Pennsylvania that he cannot spread his movement anymore to children. Even in the beginning of the story we see Wing looking through the yellow "tall mustard weeds" to the berrypickers. Tall has the denotation of a proud or confident movement, and yellow has the connotation of a warning. Thus, Wing wants to spread his movement but cannot out of fear from his past.
However, the experience in Pennsylvania causes him to be like an "imprisoned bird". He wants to keep spreading his movement of influencing children to pursue their dreams but is still fearful of his past experience. For example, Wing claims, "Pausing in his speech, Wing Biddlebaum looked long and earnestly at George Willard. His eyes glowed. Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look of horror swept over his face. ith a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprang to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets. Tears came to his eyes. 'I must be getting along home. I can talk no more with you,' he said nervously."Actually, his hands clenched in a fist when talking to George act as a continual caveat from his beating in Pennsylvania that he cannot spread his movement anymore to children. Even in the beginning of the story we see Wing looking through the yellow "tall mustard weeds" to the berrypickers. Tall has the denotation of a proud or confident movement, and yellow has the connotation of a warning. Thus, Wing wants to spread his movement but cannot out of fear from his past.
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