Do you make your characters wash hands in your books? Why, and when?

I make a my civilized characters wash their hands before their meals so they will keep the Germs away from the food, but my Corsairs and my half human half robot never. Ever.

Never really thought about that...I do make my characters do it just because well, I do it to keep germs away so why not have the character do it?

Ooh! I've actually had two characters tease about one's lack of hand washing. To be honest I never really considered the fact that in other worlds characters might not wash their hands....

Some people in this world don't. Historically, there were points where not even surgeons washed their hands. It really is a good issue to think about when evaluating culture....

This is very true. *grimaces at the thought of surgeons not washing their hands! *

It depends if their medical and hygiene sciences are as advanced as ours, or was, when germs were discovered.

I might sound like I'm giving a lesson, but there was a certain hospital that had the highest death, a certain doctor, I forgot his name, was promoted to a higher rank in that hospital. So he told the rest of the surgeon: that before they operate a person they have to wash their hands. The rest of the surgeons didn't like it, but they had to do it, and when they did it they had the lowest death rate...just because of washing hands. But when the doctor left they went back to their old ways, and the death rate went up.

It doesn't sound like a lesson Lieutenant, I've heard the same story.

Actually, if I recall correctly, where we get the term hygiene is from the Greek demi-goddess (I think... perhaps not, she might have been the daughter of a demi-god and thus not a demi-goddess... anywho!) by the name of Hygieia. Her father was a famous Greek physician, but Hygieia was know for keeping sick patients so clean, that they got better just because of that.

(see? I think I may have sounded just a bit more lesson-y *grins* )

Surprising that the Greeks thought of sanitation in relation to being healthy and we later decided they were wrong (only to find out they were right in the end).


(I can't say too much, I'm not sure how the transition of medicine happened from the Romans through the Medieval era into the Renaissance).

Yes, I heard about that too. It's amazing how obtuse humanity is at times...we won't look facts in the face.

That is fascinating.

*collects interesting tidbit to store in her mental files *

I have to say I've never thought about this before. Hooray for fun history lessons! (Once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler. )

I think I'd find it too boring to write about characters washing their hands. Besides, the main characters in my book are mostly traders who don't care much about hygiene, so I never thought about it before.

* grins * You don't make up culture to write treatises about it... * shakes head * Right? Oh wait, some people do....

Anyway, er, yes – but if you write with detail and realism, then a lot of little cultural things just come out someway or other.Washing hands might be a detail, but it's a good thing to think about anyway. If you pay attention to enough details, the effect is exponential.

I have a few times where there is a bowl of water in the room for rinsing hands and faces in the morning like you see in movies in previous eras.

I heard a story where it was the midwives who first instated handwashing in a certain hospital. The doctors got really angry because pregnant mothers were choosing to go to the midwives instead because they knew the death rate was lower. (I am surrounded by midwives. I dont' actually remember the details or the source of the tale, but you can feel free to google it!)

I hadn't really thought much about characters washing their hands. In fact, the only time I remember mentioning such a thing in either of my published books is when a character tells her little brother to wash his hands after he throws away a beetle she found in the frog she was dissecting. I do have the characters in my WIP take a bath after escaping from the dungeon, and then again after getting soaked in a thunderstorm, but I don't think I mention them washing their hands. I'm glad I saw this thread, because now that I think of it, I think one of my characters would freak out about eating with dirty hands.