Question

How does Sinclair describe the hands of the men who worked in the pickle room

Answer 1

The man who worked on the pickle room is  old Dede Antanas.

Old dada Antanas rises to his feet.  Grandfather Anthony, Jurgis' father, is not more than sixty years of age, but you would think that  he was eighty (...) he has been working in the pickle rooms at  Durham's, and the breathing of the cold, damp air all day has brought it back.

He seems to be old because he has been working a lot in his life.

• But the hands of the workers are described in all the novel.

Your hands are slippery, and  your knife is slippery, and you are t-o-i-l-ing like mad, when somebody happens to speak to you, or  you strike a bone. Then your hand slips up on the blade, and there is a fearful gash. And that  would not be so bad, only for the deadly contagion. The cut may heal, but you never can tell.

The problem for the workers is that a mistake on the hand's movements could be tragical. If they lose they working force they could not earn money and survive. Sinclaire shows us that problematic through the descriptions of workers hands.