- Published: December 9, 2021
- Updated: December 9, 2021
- University / College: University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
- Level: Intermediate School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 28
Despite God’s tremendous love toward mankind, Sexton illustrates how man still struggled with God in the making, though despite his own ignorance: ” I ignorant as a penny, troubled with the salt of its mother”
Sexton also illustrates how the ” other hand” of God formed woman: ” Up came to the other hand and God called it woman.” She further writes that both man and woman were happy with what God had made, applauded, were glad and everything was as it should be: ” The hands applauded. And this was no sin. It was as it was meant to be.” Sexton informs the reader that, when God created man and woman, everything was perfect and in its rightful order.
However, during the second stanza of ” Two Hands,” Sexton begins to depict the lives of men and women after the ” great fall” of Adam and Eve. She illustrates, through her word choice, how men and women are still struggling to regain their identity since the ” great fall” of Adam and Eve. Sexton tells of how men and women search for their place in the world, looking everyplace but to their Creator: ” I see them roaming the streets” She further explains how men and women are struggling to find their rightful place in the human race, and some even feel imprisoned. However, through Christ, they were set free: ” Levi complaining about his mattress, Sarah studying a beetle, Mandrake holding his coffee mug, Sally playing the drum at a football game, John closing the eyes of the dying woman, and some who are in prison, even the prison of their bodies, as Christ was prisoned in His body until the triumph came.”
In the last stanza, Sexton discusses the tribulation of men and women once they know that their lives are capable of being saved through a Savior. They rejoice because they know that, through Him, they can find their rightful place in the human race. Finally, the human race can have peace and feel free towards themselves and others. They ” applaud” because of that: ” Unwind, hands, you angel webs, unwind like the coil of a jumping jack, cup together and let yourselves fill up with the sun and applaud, world, applaud.
