Literary Analysis of Roald Dahl’s ‘Man from the South’
‘Man from the South’ is a short story by Roald Dahl. The piece first appeared in 1948 at Collier’s Magazine. The central point of the story revolves around the wager made by Carlos to an American visitor. Using his supposed Cadillac as a bargaining tool, Carlos then takes the challenge to the next level by indicating that if the American loses, he will lose one of his fingers. It was during the course of the bet that Carlos wife arrives and everything is revealed about his background and the reality surrounding the wager that he has made.
Critical in understanding Dahl’s piece is the theme surrounding blind trust. In the story, the American man trusted the dare made by Carlos that if he is able to light the lighter for 10 consecutive times the American would get his Cadillac, if not then he would have to cut his finger (Dahl 1). From the perspective of the author, it remains to be important that people should not trust others based on face value alone. For the case of Carlos, though he might appear to be decent looking with his white and clean suit, there is more to him than meets the eye. The American visitor only found this out when Carlos wife stopped the bet and revealed the true story to everyone.
Another important theme worth exploring comes from Dahl’s depiction of sacrifice. This can particularly be seen in contrasting realities from the American and Carlos’ wife. On one hand, the American shows that he remains confident that he can win the bet and sacrifice his fingers in the process. He does not feel daunted about this feat because he clearly is willing to take Carlos bet until he was stopped by the woman. On the other hand, there is Carlos wife who had to make sacrifices in order to mitigate the problem of his husband. The story presents readers with how she has sacrificed so much to help his husband move away from his bad tendencies and even had to lose three fingers in doing so (Pettersen 1). Dahl carefully mirrors these two realities to audiences through the use of words and telling the story from an observer’s standpoint.
Lastly, Dahl offers readers the negative impact of gambling. Using the case of Carlos, the story shows how destructive man’s addiction to wagering can create. As readers begin the story, they are presented with a simple bet that in turn involved either winning a car or losing a finger. Though this may not seem harmful at first, readers get the shock when Carlos’ wife attested him losing a lot of cars and cutting down more than 47 fingers (Valle 300). It is in here that the prevalence of addiction is presented. Lots have been lost including three of his wife’s fingers in order to beat Carlos at his own game. Now, he has nothing and yet continues to show his addictive tendencies to visitors who does not know.
Overall, Dahl’s story presents a reality that things do not always look as the way they are. The American’s blind trust to Carlos showcases both his arrogance and willingness to sacrifice his finger just to prove a point. As the truth is finally clarified by Carlos’ wife, readers then recognize the severity of his gambling addiction and the numerous sacrifices made in order to take him away from this vice. These are manifested both symbolically and physically with the fingers lost and the emotional trauma caused by such debacle. Altogether, both these realizations are provided by Dahl by presenting the story in a straightforward and objective manner.
Works Cited
Dahl, Roald. ‘Man from the South’ Classic Shorts. n.d. Web. Accessed 1 September 2014.
Pettersen, Kristina. ‘Analysis of Man from the South by Roald Dahl’ Daria.no. 12 May 2010. Web. Accessed 1 September 2014.
Valle, Laura Viñas. ‘The narrative voice in Roald Dahl’s children’s and adult books’Didactica. Lengua y Literatura, 20.1(2008): 291-308.