To be Grotesque: Wing Biddlebaum and Homer Simpson

I read the story "Hands" from Winesburg, Ohio and I definitely saw where Nathanael West got the idea for the character, Homer Simpson. Wing Biddlebaum, the character focused on his hands in the story, is very different from Homer in that I don't think he contains a pent up violent streak. He could never do to Adore what Homer does, but they are both definitely repressed.

Wing Biddlebaum, a man in his forties lives as a recluse on the edge of town after being exiled form his hometown, accused of molesting the boys he taught at an all boy elementary school. The inhabitants of Winesburg know nothing of this, and are in fact proud of Biddlebaum for his hands because he's a hard worker. Biddlebaum though, is consumed by his past. He's disturbed and ashamed of his hands, believing that they are evil in a way. Like Homer, Biddlebaum's hands express his emotional state, and are restless and prominent. Homer's hands, at one point in the novel, mirror his sexual frustration while for Biddlebaum, his hands caress lovingly the things around him, like they did the young boys, when he gets caught up in a speech he's giving.

I think both characters are grotesque. Biddlebaum is unaware of who he is, defining himself by his hands and how they have punished him. He leads his life constantly worried about them, hiding them in his pockets, feeling guilty over a thing he won't even question himself about. Homer is also like this, trying to ignore his sexual side, and I believe it is because of his pent up sexuality, his inability to fulfill his desires that causes him to murder adore. Both characters are sad, and pathetic, but at the same time, they evoke sympathy in the readers.