"I then began to look at my mother's hands differently. They had stroked the dead girl's forehead; they had bathed and dressed her and laid her in the coffin my father had made... For a while, though not for very long, I could not bear to have my mother caress me or touch my food or help me with my bath. I especially couldn't bear the sight of her hands lying still in her lap."

Question

Chapter 2: "But her hand! It was white and bony, as if it had long been dead and had been left out in the elements. It seemed not to be her hand, and yet it could only be her hand, so well did I know it. It went around and around in the same circular motion, and I looked at it as if I would never see anything else in my life again. If I were to forget everything else in the world, I could not forget her hand as it looked then."
Prompt: What do her mother's hands signify for Annie? What do you think Kincaid is trying to communicate to the reader?

Answer 1

Annie's perspective on her mother's hands offers a profound exploration of grief, the complexity of maternal relationships, and the lingering impact of death on those left behind. Initially, her mother's hands are symbols of comfort, care, and nurture. They represent the maternal bond and the everyday interactions that embody love and security. However, following the death of the girl, Annie’s perception shifts dramatically.

Annie's discomfort with her mother’s hands signifies a profound psychological conflict. They transform from comforting and nurturing symbols into reminders of death and loss. The hands that once caressed and cared for her now evoke feelings of dread and a sense of contamination; they have touched a dead body, and every interaction becomes tainted by the association with mortality. This reflects a fundamental change in Annie's innocence and her understanding of the world. It reveals how deeply intertwined love and loss can be and how trauma can distort the very things that once provided solace.

In the second passage, Kincaid uses the imagery of the mother’s hands being “white and bony” to underline their otherness and fragility, reinforcing the themes of mortality and decay. The repetitive motion of her mother’s hand signifies a sense of ritual or routine, yet it contrasts sharply with the emotional turmoil Annie is experiencing, creating a tension between the mundane and the profound. The hand becomes an object of fixation for Annie, emphasizing her fixation on death and her struggle to reconcile her mother's identity as both nurturer and participant in the cycle of life and death.

Overall, Kincaid communicates to the reader the fragile nature of familial bonds in the wake of loss and how the aftermath of death can evoke a mixed response of fear, discomfort, and an altered perception of love. The hands, as pivotal symbols, illustrate the complexities of grief, illustrating how the essence of those we love can change dramatically in the presence of loss, reshaping our relationships and our understanding of intimacy.