Loss Of Life In Robert Frost's Poem Out, Out

Is the use of a hand worth the loss of a life? In the poem “Out, Out--” by Robert Frost the speaker tells of a boy who uses a saw to cut stove length sticks of wood for a living. The boy ran his hand into a saw and instead of taking precautions to save his life he demanded that his hand be saved. As a result of these demands the boy not only loses his hand but also dies. Frost uses key imagery, foreshadowing, diction, and irony, to show that in certain circumstances holding onto something can cause more harm than letting go.

The key images created by Frost show that this accident was only a matter of time and if the boy hadn’t demanded to keep his hand, he could have survived his attack. The first key image is that the “saw snarled and rattled”(line 1), this creates an image that this saw was angry. Being able to hear this saw snarl and rattle produces a vicious image of this tool. Later the poem mentioned again that this saw “snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled” (line 7), but nothing happened. When the vicious tool snarls and rattles again it forces a fear of the saw but this time nothing happens. The speaker then mentions that the boy’s sister went to the boy to …show more content…
As mentioned in the previous paragraph the saw “snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled”(Line 7) but nothing happened. The importance of this nothing happening in the line is that it foreshadows that the saw will eventually make a move. It’s at this point the speaker mentions they wanted the work day to end for the sake of the boy. “Call it a day, I wish they might have said/ To please the boy by giving him the half hour/ That a boy counts so much when saved from work.” (Lines 10-12). This quote foreshadows that something will happen to the boy that causes the speaker to become regretful. The speaker’s regret and the notion the saw will make a move together foreshadow the demise of the