A Hundred Thousand Straightened Nails

A Hundred Thousand Straightened Nails by Donald Hall, former professor at Stanford University and the University of Michigan, is about a cousin from Hall's boyhood in New Hampshire named Washington Woodward. It is about the life of a strange man with a very robust work ethic and a simple outlook on life. He tirelessly worked for low wages, and was content with his basic way of life. His upbringing was abnormal, as he was separated from his siblings, and his father was lazy and mean. In life he was never able to find romance, thus he never had a family. He was rarely visited by others, so when they did visit, he could speak for an eternity. In the end of the story he died in a state nursing home utterly alone. The author was showing that though this man was content with his life, it had no meaning, and nothing of importance occurred. He left nothing significant after he died, as he chose to pursue trivial interests instead of doing anything with meaning, like collecting a hundred thousand straightened nails. In the text, Hall was trying to prove to all people that life can be wasted, and showed it through Washington's lonely and meaningless life. Washington was an excellent worker, yet all the work that he did rotted away, and his physical works decomposed to show insignificance. The author used hyperbole when explaining Washington's legacy, saying he left things like one hundred thousand nails instead of lasting intangible things. Other than that, little rhetoric had to be used, Washington's life story was enough to prove that it had no meaning, and was scary enough to the readers to remind them that they must leave something more than works to the world in order to have a lasting legacy.

(Image sourced from MSN)

This image was chosen because it represents Washington's legacy. Like the house, his legacy is rotting away.