Frost’s “Out, Out—” tells the story of a boy cutting wood with a snarling buzz-saw in a Vermont yard at sunset. Just as his sister calls the workers to supper, the saw catches his hand. The boy, old enough to do a man’s work but still a child, holds up the hand and begs his sister not to let the doctor amputate it. But the hand is already gone. He is put under ether and dies as his pulse fades. The final lines are quietly devastating: since the others are not the one dead, they simply turn back to their affairs. The voice is restrained, almost matter-of-fact, which makes the accident feel more jarring. The mood is somber and unsettled, with a cold truth underneath: life in a rural working world can be ended in an instant, and the living must go on.
'Out, Out--' — Summary
The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood, Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it. And from there those that lifted eyes could count Five mountain ranges one behind the other Under the sunset far into Vermont. And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, As it ran light, or had to bear a load. And nothing happened: day was all but done. 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. His sister stood beside them in her apron To tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw, As if to prove saws knew what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap-- He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand! The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh, As he swung toward them holding up the hand Half in appeal, but half as if to keep The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all-- Since he was old enough to know, big boy Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart-- He saw all spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off-- The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’ So. But the hand was gone already. The doctor put him in the dark of ether. He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. And then--the watcher at his pulse took fright. No one believed. They listened at his heart. Little--less--nothing!--and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.