My Mothers Hands

~ Robert Fontaine

Robert Fountain is an American writer. The year of his birth is unknown, but it is said
that he died in 1965. He spent his childhood in Ottawas Lower Town . Later he became a writer
of short stories and plays that turned out to be popular in the 1940s. Further, Robert Fontaine
is the author of books such as Humorous Monologues For Teen-Agers, a Collection Of
Royalty-Free Dramatic Sketches For Young People, that display a vast canvas of teen-agers
social life. Needless to say is that one of his stories, The Happy Time turned into a movie
with the same name. The story My Mothers Hands is also one of this famous works, that is
written in a dramatic key, because it introduces the problems of everyday life and ordinary
people. We can determine the text as a love story because the author describes the relationship
between one couple and their arguments in family. Besides, the author brings into focus such
problems as the passing of love over the years, family conflicts and misunderstandings between
family members.

In the text in question we can identify some important themes, such as: love,
relationships between old couples and arguments in the family. The main theme of the text is
timeless love. Usually, with time, the relationship between people freeze and they start to be
strangers. A person that was thought to be known, step by step is slipping away. The relationship
between the 2 spouses might seem at the begging of the text like that. Even the son is wondering
if they notice each other: So, the life of my mother and father had flowed on, with me always
wondering, What do they think about? Do they notice each other? Do they have strong
emotions for each other? But how could they? .
But reading further the text, we observe that they have strong feelings of respect toward each
other, that are enforced with the love they have. Aside with the main theme we can encounter
other themes like love of parents or of the child. The love of the child toward his parents is
seen due to his actions. He is visiting them daily for an hour, and chat with them in order to keep
them with whats happening in the world. He is even trying to get them outside. We see how
much he cares about them, and those are not just words, but real actions: Until a short while
ago I wondered how elderly people who had been married for decades could still find in each
other sources of surprise and wonder, even elements of excitement and provocation. Now and
then, my wife and I would take my father and mother on short trips., I would visit my father
and mother every day in their small apartment.
With the help of themes is illustrated the main idea of the story, that true love has no age and
even after 50 years of marriage the spouses still love each other deeply. Even if the narrator
thought that it was impossible to find something new in the person you care about, just after a
long marriage, his parents proved him wrong. Although, they didn't show it to the outside world.
Their love was strong and this thing kept them together for such a long time.
The example of the couple prove that even after many years people can still be together. Even
the fact, when their son take them on travel, makes them want to go home.. The key- sentences
summing up the this idea are: These trips excited but did not overwhelm my parents. They
were pleased but not moved. Its good to get home, my mother always said with a sigh, at
last. My father said, I dont sleep all right in a bed thats not my own. I sleep all right, my
mother said, but I eat too much. Its nice to get back, my father would say.. Plainly
speaking, the spouses prefer to stay together with their habitual routine.
Nevertheless, occasional tension or arguments are a normal part of family life, and it is
expected that they periodically occur. One day, when author usually came to bring some scallops
for his parents, he was surprised by an extraordinary thing : his parents were in a bad quarrel.
They were arguing on a subject that took place a long time ago and both were too stubborn to
admit that one of them was wrong. This conflict in an exterior conflict, because it takes place
between the spouses. Additionally, it has not serious causes, it is just their way of proving that
they are right. Besides, there is another conflict, with more sensitive and rooted causes. The fact
that they are too stubborn emphasizes the idea of an interior conflict that happens inside them ,
and so influences the situation from exterior. These conflicts are just one more attempt to
demonstrate their true love to each other. The husband is as stubborn as his wife, but he can still
surprise her. The authors primary purpose is to lay out that sometimes we need to pass over
our trifling principles, try to build a real love that will last over decades and finally that it is
ordinary to disagree with each other from time to time.

This short but worldly story surprised me, as a reader, with a lot of details that caught my
attention. The details that most impressed me were focused on the description of the relationship
of the old couple: The blood has slowed down. The arms are inelastic. The eyes are dim. The
fingers of my father which once rippled along a violin can barely make an unpleasant squeak on
that instrument anymore. My mother walks carefully, for her glasses do not focus properly where
her feet meet the stairs and sidewalks.. However, all these descriptions seem not to be written
meaningless, they highlight the changes that happened in their couple life. An equally important
detail is that after the husbands escape, the author describes the mother as being wistful and
lonesome like a girl at her first quarrel. Accordingly to this comparison, the author sharpens
the purity of ladies feelings that behaves like a girl, even if she is in her late seventies. Another
significant retail is pointed in denouement, when the husband came home with a a bottle of
hand lotion, the sort that is guaranteed to make your hand as soft as silk. It is vividly shown
that the spouses have a special relationship and a close love, that is blind for the others but well
felt between them.

The title of the story isnt suggestive because it misleds me about the plot of story. When
I first read the title, I thought about another sequence of events. I was totally confused of the
word ,,hands. Thus, I supposed that there is a story about a single mother that grows her child
alone and achieves everything with her hands (her work being related to handmade objects) . To
find the title appropriate, I have read the first passage, thereupon I have understood that my
assumptions were totally wrong, because there was described a couple. Even though, the story is
completely different but there is still a situation where mothers hands are mentioned. The true
meaning of this expression My Mothers Hands is shown at the end of the text, when the
husband came home with a bottle of lotion for her hands. Likewise, the title consists of two main
nouns: mother and hands , and the possessive pronoun my . These three components
help us to determine just a small part of the subject and essence of the text. At the same time, this
expression prefigures an eulogy to the mothers hands that have worked for the author and
others many, many years, washing, baking, scrubbing, digging in a garden.
 The way the narrator opens his narration is presented in the exposition, where the
action takes place in the narrators home. The characters of the text are the mother, the father and
the narrator who is the son. The story begins with a short description of the narrator's parents,
who were in their late seventies and who lived a very quiet life. In the rising action, the narrator
talks about his parents relationship and their habitual actions. But, one day he comes home with
scallops and seems to be really surprised. The quarrel between the parents represents the climax
of the story. To involve the reader into the events of the story, the narrator describes the state
of his mother after the sudden breakup of her husband: she would square her shoulders, and
say suddenly, Ill fix him. Then she would slump and weep some more.. All these sad feelings
show that mother cared a lot about her husband and worried about him. In the resolution the
father comes back home with a bottle of hand lotion. The denouement relates the happy end of
this story, the two make up and their son leaves them alone: So I went and left them to make up
and to smile and to be alone. It was a moment, I am sure, when they preferred no company..
From all above I can affirm that the plot of the story is centered around the relationship of the
old couple, marking their special way to show the love. The text under discussion has a closed
plot structure because the ending is perfectly outlined and the reader doesnt have to guess it.

Even if the author doesnt mention the time or place of action, there is a small clue that
leads us to the conclusion that maybe the events happen in New York, Yet one morning I came
on my usual call, bringing a New York paper

The author uses narration intercepted with dialogue to show the sequence of the
actions that take place. So, the words uttered by characters in the story forms a specific sharing
of thoughts, emotions and replies: I was there too. Well, you dont remember then.
Another form of narration that prevails in the text is the description They were in their
late seventies and their lives were quiet outside as one could imagine as quiet as the snow or
the rain or the rustle of trees in midsummer. which has the prime role to make the reader
sensitive to the fate of love couple.

The relationship between the narrator and the characters is a strong one, not only
because the first persons point of view is used but also because we can imagine this is about his
own family and the relationship of his parents, I would visit my father and mother every day in
their small apartment.. His sympathy lies with the people that unconditionally love each other
and managed to preserve this type of feelings even after 50 years of marriage.

The writer's manner of viewing the action and inner speech affords him the
possibility of introducing us to the thoughts of deeply respect for the love of the couple, that
has managed to preserve their unbridled love for almost a century. Additionally, the author
italicizes the idea that true love has no age, that inspires us to believe in true feelings and the
magic of love.

Wholeheartedly, I claim that the extract is of interest not only because it is illustrative
of the main points in the writer's art but also because by the way of reaching the readers
heart. Moreover, there a lot of stylistic devices such as comparisons To my father, though, they
must have been the hands of a young woman he loved, a woman who had stayed for a long time
in his heart as precisely the same woman , that undoubtedly play the role of describing how
important mothers hand are for her husband.
 In conclusion, I hold on that the text is remarkable for proving us that unconditional
love that lasts through time exists. To follow the writers line of thought, the life of couples is
full of problems and joyful moments, but if there is love, they can surpass everything. Taking all
things in account, the author of the text leads us to the idea that love is the most powerful and
magical force that needs to be protected, guarded and harnessed. To call the readers attention
to the fact that true love is not of a short duration, but, on the contrary, lasts for a long period of
time. To be in conformity with the text, I totally agree with the fact that elderly people who
had been married for decades could still find in each other sources of surprise and wonder, even
elements of excitement and provocation.

terbe Ruxandra

Clasa a XII-a ,,C

Liceul Teoretic ,,Mircea Eliade