"Hands"

Questions

"Hands" was published first in Masses 8 (March 1916): 5-7. At that time, many critics said that Anderson's fiction was pointless. From our modern perspective, what point can we find in the story?

How does George Willard's role as a newspaper reporter suit him to hear Wing's story?

Papinchak says that "Hands" "develops both theme of thwarted potential and Anderson's concern with sexual repression. In what ways do you see this happening?

• Brown, Lynda. "Anderson's Wing Biddlebaum and Freeman's Louisa Ellis." Studies in Short Fiction Summer 1990. Available: EBSCO.
• Papinchak, Robert Allen. Sherwood Anderson: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1993.
• Small, Judy Jo. A Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of Sherwood Anderson. New York: G. K. Hall, 1994. On reserve.