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floreatetona-a · 8 years ago

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“ Ille sinistrorsum, hie dextrorsum abit: unus utrique Error, sed variis illudit partibus. ”

“ One wanders to the left, another to the right: both are equally in error, but are seduced by different delusions. ”

~ Horace, Satires, 2.3.50-51

Mun Concordia here – in response to my co-mun’s note in this post about Hook being right-handed, I thought I’d crawl out from under my rock and provide some more information on Hook’s right versus left-handedness.

As it is all too easy to be deceived by the many stage and movie versions of Peter Pan that have been released, let us establish once and for all that canonically it is the right hand that James Hook looses and replaces with an iron claw: Peter explains in chapter 4 that he “cut off a bit of [Hook]….He has an iron hook instead of a right hand, and he claws with it.”(1) That established, the next question that is invariably asked is, “which hand was James’ dominant one before its loss?�� – and it is here that one has to do quite a bit of digging.

James M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, linked himself to Hook through not only his first name but also in playacting with his godsons, the Llewelyn Davies boys – Barrie usually pretended to be Hook when playing Peter Pan related games with the boys.(2) He was right-handed for most of his life, but in writing so frequently, around 1920 his right hand gave out due to writer’s cramp and he had to learn to write with his left – which is ironic, given his connection to Hook. Barrie once said that “there is not the same joy in writing with the left hand as with the right….The right has the happier nature, the left is naturally sinister.”(3) “Sinister” is a Latin word meaning wrong, unfavorable, or adverse. “Sinisterior” means on the left or on the left hand.*(4) Twice in the novel and play versions of Peter Pan Barrie uses the word sinister to describe Hook:

“He was never more sinister than when he was most polite, which is probably the truest test of breeding.”(5) -- PETER. Dark and sinister man, have at thee.(6)

Lacking a right hand, it follows that the word sinister �� especially given its Latinate root – should be used in conjunction with Hook. But Barrie suggests that Hook was not wholly evil, as he “loved flowers…and sweet music” – what if he became sinister in the figurative sense only after the loss of his right hand, which rendered him as literally sinister and bent on revenge?(7) We’ll never know for sure, but it’s entirely possible given Hook’s history and interests as described in Barrie’s additive and draft texts.(8)

One final note: when Pan and Hook duel in the novel Barrie writes, “Peter was a superb swordsman, and parried with dazzling rapidity…Hook, scarcely his inferior in brilliancy, but not quite so nimble in wrist play, forced him back by the weight of his onset.”(9) Noting that Hook is stiff in his fencing style is rather significant – one could argue that he isn’t so nimble with his wrist play because he is conceivably fighting with his non-dominant hand. Indeed, during the same scene in the play Peter manages to whip Hook’s sword out of his hand.(10)

Barrie never outright says which hand was Hook’s dominant one before its loss. Considering all the above details, however, one can conclude that James Hook was very likely originally right-handed – in cutting off that hand, Peter forced Hook to become left-handed, rendering him sinister and hateful for his loss. He would have had to relearn not only how to fence, but also how to eat, write, and attend to the many other things required of him. Some things he would never be able to do to their full capacity again, like play his Baroque flute. Just one more tragedy in the life of Captain James Hook, that “not wholly unheroic figure.”(11)

*Conversely, the word “dexterous” (derived from “dexter”) means right or on the right side/hand, and has a connotation for correct or “in the right.”(4) “Ambidextrous” means “both right-hands.”

Citations: 1. Barrie, JM. Peter and Wendy, ed. Anne Alton. Buffalo, NY: Broadview Editions, 2011. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Simpson, D.P. Cassell’s Latin Dictionary. New York: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 1968. 5. Barrie, Peter and Wendy, ed. Alton 6. Barrie, JM. Peter Pan or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1956. 7. Barrie, Peter and Wendy, ed. Alton. 8. Including “Captain Hook at Eton” (1927 speech) and a draft of Hook’s soliloquy (1904), notably. 9. Barrie, Peter and Wendy, ed. Alton. 10. Barrie, Peter Pan. 11. Barrie, Peter and Wendy, ed. Alton.

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