"Man from the South"

 I read "Man from the South", by Roald Dahl, which is a story about a young sailor who finds himself betting against an older man that he could get his lighter to light 10 times in a row. If he won the bet, he would have received a Cadillac and if he lost he would have had his little finger on his left hand chopped off. At the time the bet was made the sailor was unaware that the older man had done similar bets in the past with the same stakes, until the older man's wife revealed this information and it was observed that she herself had only one finger and a thumb remaining on her hand from previous bets with her husband.
   It is interesting to read this story since I am currently learning about the hand in my biomechanics class because one of the deciding factors for the sailor to go through with the bet was that he found little to no use of the little finger on his left hand. Losing the little finger severely impacts grip strength in a negative way. Such a small finger that seems to have little function actually plays a vital role in everyday activities (including gripping his lighter when he lights it). Losing this finger would make his roles as a naval sailor much more difficult, if not force him to end his naval training and pursue a new career path.
   As for the wife, who only has one finger and a thumb on her hand, most if not all her daily activities have been greatly altered. Although we are not told which finger is remaining it is safe to assume that with only one finger and a thumb her grip strength is almost entirely compromised. As we are told in the story she has to get her hair washed, indicating she probably is unable to do it herself or it is at the very least incredibly difficult. To help her achieve this on her own it may help to get touchless soap dispensers for in her shower so she would not need to hold and squeeze the shampoo bottles. She also mentions how she has a car, but it would seem difficult to grip onto the steering wheel while missing that many fingers and so I would recommend adding a spinner knob to her car so that she car drive one handed and have a safer driving experience. Driving and bathing are two very important occupations for independence and with these adaptations she may be able to regain some of that independence the loss of her fingers caused her to lose.