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In the novel, hands symbolize support in times of crisis (particularly in the case of family members), and how that support can ultimately be life-saving. Holding hands first comes up when Hugh takes Ursula’s hand when she is in the hospital following her abortion. She describes how this action saves her from the black bat, itself representing death. Ursula then holds her own daughter Frieda’s hand in the hospital in order to achieve the same effect, trying to tether her to this world. Later in the novel (though earlier in Ursula’s life), Pamela holds Ursula’s hand when Roland is discovered having drowned. Additionally, when Ursula’s apartment at Argyll Road is bombed, and Ursula is dying in the wreckage, Mr. Emslie also tries to comfort her and keep her alive by holding her hand. Thus, hands become not only literal physical comfort, but symbolic representations of the support between family members and a way of trying to keep someone alive.
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Hands Symbol Timeline in Life After Life
The timeline below shows where the symbol Hands appears in Life After Life. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Like a Fox in a Hole, May 1926
...falls asleep again, feeling the black bat approaching her, but when she reaches out her hand to the darkness, her hand is rejected, and she wakes up. Hugh smiles at her,...
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Like a Fox in a Hole, June 1932
...and tired, and she remembers feeling this way in the hospital after Belgravia, when Hugh’s hand in hers had been the only thing to keep her in this life. The black...
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A Lovely Day Tomorrow (I), November 1940
...her out. She tries to speak but her words are slurred. The man holds her hand, and she is extremely grateful. Snow falls, and she starts to fall asleep. The man...
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A Lovely Day Tomorrow (II), November 1940
...something inside her was “torn beyond repair.” She is very cold. The man holds her hand, imploring her to stay awake. But the snow begins to fall until she feels entirely...
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The Land of Begin Again, August 1939
...hospital. Ursula stayed by her side for two days and nights, holding on to her hand. They willed Frieda to live, and she did. When Ursula returned home from the hospital,...
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A Long Hard War, September 1940
...woman who had clung to the walls of the cellar, but unable to grasp Ursula’s hand, she had disappeared beneath the water. When they finally pumped out the place, fifteen bodies...
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A Long Hard War, November 1940
...herself thinking about Hugh’s death. She is gripped by melancholy, and Miss Woolf takes her hand, almost vibrating with emotion.
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...that she is kneeling on top of a mound, under which she finds a tiny hand belonging to Emil. She thinks it is better for Mrs. Appleyard to have died rather...
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The End of the Beginning
...As a variety of strangers try to revive Roland, Pamela comes over and holds Ursula’s hand.
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