Re: Fear and Trembling - Left handedness

Excordis@aol.com
Sat, 27 Nov 1999 20:02:10 -0500 (EST) 

In a message dated 26/11/99 9:50:21 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
tangerineness@hotmail.com writes:

> >Nonono ... the left hand isn't "evil" in the Bible (at least exclusively),
>  
>  I was probably wrong. But I believe over time people came to (to some 
>  degree) interpret the Bible this way, and in Early Christian art it was 
used 
> 
>  that symbolically. (Who would've thought the one class that really seems 
to 
>  come in handy would be art history?)
>  
>  >it's also used in the sense of "secondary."  Yes, the goats go to the left
>  >and the sheep to the right, but at the same time the Number 2 and 3 
>  >positions
>  >(in a heirarchy) were also signified by the "right and left hand."
>  >
>  >At any rate, you really do have a workable thesis here because the
>  >distinctions between "right and left hand" are pretty deeply embedded into
>  >western culture, at least.
>  
>  When you really start thinking about it, the amount we use "right" and 
>  "left" in terms like, "out in left field", or "right hand man", or such, 
>  it's amazing we don't realize it. But there is also the belief that 
>  left-handed people are more creative, and artistic and such. (But I won't 
>  start with my "all the good people are lefties" thing here, since I kinda 
>  got over that stage ;) )
>  
>  >It would be interesting to see how Salinger used
>  >this.
>  
>  Salinger seems to use it a lot. Just read Franny and Zooey or Raise High 
The 
> 
>  Roofbeams, Carpenters, or most of Nine Stories, and refrences to left and 
>  right are everywhere. In Catcher, his brother Allie was left-handed.
>  
>  >I'd explain the phenomena as being the product of the majority of people
>  >being right handed and little else.
>  >
>  >Jim
>  
>  Granted, that is obviously the root of it all, but just the extent of it, 
>  and the way people use it is incredibly interesting. By the way, I'm 
>  wondering, are there many left-handed people on this list?
>                     Catherine
>  
I read in a web-site somewhere that the exceptional creativity of lefties was 
due to the fact that most products used by them are to be used with the 
right-hand, and when they use their right hand(which would be using the less 
used side of the brain) it facilatates the communication between the two 
sides of the brain. 

-Torrence