Man of the south

In the story “Man of the South”, an old man bets against a young soldier that he can light his cigarette 10 times in a row while running. If the soldier were the lose the bet, the old man would cut off his pinky finger and if he were to win the bet he would win the old man’s Cadillac. Assuming the soldier lost the bet, he would face many challenges regarding daily occupations going forward. Many believe the pinky finger is not very important, however it is significant to daily occupations such as fine motor skills and grip strength.  Since the young man is a soldier, he is required to perform many physical activities that require use of all his fingers to perform efficiently. Some physical activities the soldier must perform are pushups, pull ups and operating a gun. The main problem the soldier will face if he loses his pinky finger is grip strength. The pinky finger is incredibly important for grip strength and for opposition. The fingers align towards the scaphoid bone when making a fist, which will allow for a stronger grip to occur.

The main occupation the soldier would struggle with after losing his pinky finger would be operating a gun. Operating a gun requires tremendous grip strength. If the soldier is not able to hold the gun efficiently enough then his accuracy of his shot could be thrown off, resulting in possibly his life or someone else around him.

              One adaption the soldier would have to get used to is operating the gun minus his pinky finger. To maintain an accurate shot, the soldier would have to put in extra practice to get used to working the gun without his pinky finger. He would need to practice exercises for his fine motor skills and grip strength. Luckily for him, the middle finger is the most important part of holding the gun because that is the finger that pulls the trigger. However, the other fingers are important to because they help stabilize the gun for accurate shooting. The soldier would need to go to a shooting range and practice until he feels comfortable enough to work the gun around other people.