Upon my initial reading of "The Hand," I found this story quite amusing. It was funny to me to imagine this young woman whispering "'Oh!'…as if faced with something slightly indecent." in the middle of the night due to the sight of the hand of the man she had just married. Also, the personification implied by Colette's description of this man's hand painted quite a funny picture in my mind: as if it were teasing this woman. After reading a second time, a bit more in depth, the symbolism presented by the hand gave the story much more meaning.
By using symbolize, Colette infers marriage can be a sort of oppression. Throughout her description of the hand the wife had previously not looked at in much detail, it becomes increasingly beast-like and perhaps close to offensive. This is displayed not only in the motion of the hand, but also the wife's reactions, as she gasps and shudders at the mere sight of it the following morning. It's as if the woman has a relationship with this hand within these moments given her emotional reactions to its gestures/presence. Although she is terrified and disgusted by this "creature," in the end, she begins "her life of duplicity, of resignation, and of a lowly, delicate diplomacy…[and leans] over and humbly [kisses] the monstrous hand."
I would like to know if anyone else thought the hand symbolized something else, as I kind of struggled to pinpoint the meaning behind it.
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