The Man Down South

In the story that we read for class, a soldier makes a bet with an older man at a pool. The older man bets that the young man cannot light his cigar ten times in a row with his lighter. If the young man wins the bet, he gets to take the older man's car, and if he loses, the older man gets to cut his little finger off. In the end, the old man's wife stops them from completing the bet. 

If the soldier in the story had lost the bet, he would have lost his little finger on the left hand. The loss of his pinky finger would have a major impact on his grip strength as the little finger contributes a huge percentage on grip strength. He would see a decrease in his ability to strongly grip an object. One occupation that the man may lose function in is exercising. The young man is a solider, therefore, his physical fitness may be very important for his job. The soldier would need to go to therapy and receive services to increase grip strength in the rest of his hand to compensate for the loss of the little finger.

                                                                                                                                                   Although the soldier’s life would be more difficult without a little finger, the wife of the man in the white suit also probably has a hard time completing activities of daily living as she only has one thumb and a finger. Her ability to drive the Cadillac from the story could be greatly impaired without use of her fingers. It would be difficult for her to grip and guide the steering wheel, however, there is a modification that could help her driving. A steering wheel spinner could be introduced in order to allow the woman to continue driving her Cadillac despite the amputations of her fingers. With the assistance in driving, the woman would be able to run errands as needed.