Man from the South
While reading the story "Man from the South," I could feel myself getting anxious, reading faster and faster to discover the fate of the soldier. In the story the "little man" and an American sailor make a bet. The bet is that if the sailor can make his lighter light 10 times in a row he will win the little man's cadilac. However, if he loses the little man will hop off his left pinky. Why would anyone agree to this? They both ration that the pinky barley has any use, would not be missed, and the sailor can not even remember the last time he used it. They see no way life would be different without it. In the end, the little man's wife stops the bet, revealing she herself has lost her middle, ring, and little finger betting against the man.
If the wife had not stopped the bet, the sailor may have lost his little finger. While he may not have realized his life would be different, losing just one finger has an effect on the overall functioning of the hand. For gripping, and especially a power grip, all of the fingers are required. This boy is a soldier, so one of his occupations may be sailing the ship they are on using a wheel. The sailor's weakened grip strength will cause him to have to readjust the amount of force he uses to turn the wheel or even adjust the way he holds the wheel. The sailor could work on exercises that increase hand and grip strength to counteract the loss on the pinky so that he can still successfully turn the wheel.
The wife of the man was also missing fingers. On one of her hands she only had her thumb and index. One occupation that will be difficult for her now is writing. When writing, a person uses a palmar pinch to grip a pencil, which requires the use of the thumb, index, and middle. Without the middle she will have to either learn to write with a pencil using a different type of pinch like the lateral or 2-jaw chuck punch, or find a adaptive pencil that uses either a big gripper or that comes in a different shape making it easier for her to hold.
If the wife had not stopped the bet, the sailor may have lost his little finger. While he may not have realized his life would be different, losing just one finger has an effect on the overall functioning of the hand. For gripping, and especially a power grip, all of the fingers are required. This boy is a soldier, so one of his occupations may be sailing the ship they are on using a wheel. The sailor's weakened grip strength will cause him to have to readjust the amount of force he uses to turn the wheel or even adjust the way he holds the wheel. The sailor could work on exercises that increase hand and grip strength to counteract the loss on the pinky so that he can still successfully turn the wheel.
The wife of the man was also missing fingers. On one of her hands she only had her thumb and index. One occupation that will be difficult for her now is writing. When writing, a person uses a palmar pinch to grip a pencil, which requires the use of the thumb, index, and middle. Without the middle she will have to either learn to write with a pencil using a different type of pinch like the lateral or 2-jaw chuck punch, or find a adaptive pencil that uses either a big gripper or that comes in a different shape making it easier for her to hold.
I enjoyed reading your blog post Carley. I too found myself racing to the end of the story to find out what happened. I was relieved that the bet was stopped and that the soldier did not lose any of his fingers. But I was saddened to discover that the wife of the betting man had lost so many of her fingers. I agree with you in that the soldier did not realize just how much his daily routine would have been affected had he lost his pinky. Good point about the power grip! It is funny how sometimes the things that are so small, yet so important to the proper function of any structure can get overlooked as not needed. The soldier would have definitely been missing his pinky had he lost the bet. His life as a sailor on the boat would have been changed for sure. Good thing he got lucky!
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