If Grania were here beside him he would be able to tell her about the hands. If only he did not have to look at the hands. In death they told more than the face; he knew that now. It was the hands that revealed the final argument: clenched in anger, relaxed in acquiescence, seized in a posture of surprise or forgiveness, or taken unawares. Clawing at a chest, or raised unnaturally in a pleading attitude.
Interesting image here — Deaf folk use hands to communicate in life, and in this passage it seems as though hearing people’s hands communicate their final truth.
Deafening by Frances Itani
Bewildered Creatures 