Hands

The main character of “Hands,” Wing Biddlebaum, is a profoundly lonely man. He still thinks of himself as an outsider in Winesburg despite having lived there for 20 years. Although he is only 40 years old, he has the appearance of someone in his sixties. Wing Biddlebaum’s character speaks to the distinction between Appearance Versus Reality: The narrator emphasizes Wing Biddlebaum’s nonthreatening appearance, which is important, given the accusations against him.

At age 20, Biddlebaum went by the name Adolph Myers and was a schoolteacher at a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. He was known for showing his students affection and cultivating their dreams. After a student made an accusation that Adolph Myers had touched him inappropriately, the teacher was driven out of town in the middle of the night by a lynch mob.

The narrator subtly insinuates that Wing Biddlebaum/ Adolph Myers is a gay man and that rural American society may have unfairly condemned him based on prejudice. The accusation against him “galvanized” the “strange, shadowy doubts” (7) already held by the community due to his reputation for being “so gentle that it passes as a loveable weakness” (6). Adolph Myers’s gentleness, fondness for his students, high