Sandoz's Hands and Moral Evil

     In the novel The Sparrow the one evil that really stands out to me is what happened to Sandoz’s hands. John Candotti said, “All the muscles had been carefully cut from the bones, doubling the length of the fingers, and Sandoz’s hands reminded John of childhood Halloween skeletons,” (Russell 26-27). Sandoz’s hands are a big issue in the book and cause him a lot of hard ships; little things like opening and closing the door become a huge task. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols says that, “According to Aristotle the hand is ‘the tool of tools.’ Quintilian says the hand may almost be said to speak. Do we not use them to demand, promise, summon, dismiss, threaten [etc.][…] Hands signify power; strength, providence; blessing,” ( Cooper 78).

            By taking Sandoz’s hands away these beings have essentially caused him great pain not only physically but also emotionally. I wonder the same thing that Candotti does; why did they do this to his hands? Before the mission trip all of Sandoz’s friends and himself are so excited to find a new planet and really want to go meet these new beings. It seems like such a happy time but when he returns he is by himself and not in good health physically or mentally.

            The only thing the reader knows about the new beings is what Candotti saw from the picture Sandoz drew. The beings were said to be very handsome and said to have, “extraordinary eyes,” ( Russell 9). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols says that eyes represent the, “sun gods and their life-giving power of fertilization by the sun,” (Cooper 62). Based on what these being have done they seem powerful but not life-giving.

            By this point in the book it would appear that the new beings have committed moral evil. They knowingly and deliberately inflicted pain on Sandoz by cutting out his palms and leaving only the bone. The reader is left almost angry at these new beings for hurting Sandoz and whatever other moral evils they have committed. However, we do not know the whole story; Sandoz may have had a dangerous encounter with chemicals in the new planet where he lost all his flesh and muscles; where the new beings had no intention of harming him. Therefore, we cannot judge the new beings as evil unless we know exactly what happened and not just parts.

            I hope to find out more about these new beings within the next quarter of the book. I want to know what has happened to Sandoz’s friends and why the beings have hurt them, if they did. So far I have really enjoyed the novel; it is very suspenseful only giving you small bits of information at a time; almost like a puzzle. 

By Katherine Pellin