Man from the South

This short story can be found HERE. I was searching for good stories that could have a great life long impact, and I came to Man from the South by Roald Dahl.

Read it and share your thoughts.

My thoughts: From this story, I gathered a couple of lesson, steer clear of crazies, and never be too prideful.

I'll assume you haven't read it and give you the details.

Setting: Poolside of a Hotel in Jamaica

Main Characters: Old Southern Man, Young American Sailor, and Narrator

Plot:
- Sailor offers a light for the Southern's cigar and mentions that "The lighter always lights".
- Southerner proposes a bet with these terms:
-If the lighter lights 10 times in a row, the Southern man will give the boy his Cadillac.
- If it does not light 10 times in a row, the Southern man will cut off and take the Sailor's pinkie finger.

Crazy right?

- They all got up to the Southern man's hotel room, tie the Sailor's hand to the table, and with his other hand he starts to flick the lighter.
- When the counts to the number 8, an angry woman bursts into the room and reprimands the old man and mentions that he has lost several of HER Cadillacs, as well as collected several fingers, and in order to stop him she had to win everything from him so he had nothing left to bet.

Here's the kicker...
---> "She looked up at the boy and she smiled, a slow sad smile, and she came over and put out a hand to take the key [to her car] from the table.

I can see it now, that hand of hers; it had only one finger on it, and a thumb."

My reaction: Wow! That man has to be a lunatic and that woman was bold!! This story should be a lesson to you. Stay away from strangers especially strangers who propose crazy bets. Also, we don't know if the boy would have been able to light the lighter for the 9th and 10th times, so never leave the fate of your limbs to the luck of a lighter even when there is a Cadillac at the other end of the deal.

♥ Marquitta J

The Lottery

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a classic! Read it and leave a comment on your thoughts. If you don't want to go out and buy a hardcopy, you can find it HERE. Without giving anything away, it is about an annual Lottery that takes place in a small village. Sorry. That's all I can give you without giving it away. Read it and leave a comment so we can discuss!

***SPOILER ALERT BELOW*****

The story is really jacked up. I think Suzanne Collins got many of her ideas for the Hunger Games from this story. So if you did't feel like reading it, I will tell you what it is about. There is a town that has a drawing every year, and whomever draws the black dot gets stoned. That's basically the gist. Throughout the entire story, it gives this imagery of a bright and sunny summer afternoon with wonderful townsmen and neighbors, but in reality the event is horrible, but because of tradition, these people continue the injustice. Even though this was written in 1948, I think it still applies today. In my opinion, Jackson did a great job depicting herd tendencies. Mrs. Hutchinson was the woman who pulled the fatal black dot, and while she was in the process of getting stoned, she cries out "its not fair". I'm left to ask, why didn't she say anything in the years past? Why is it when it happens to her she's speaking her mind? Is that what we do in our society today? Are we bystanders and just watch injustice occur and not until it happens to us do we stand for the cause? What do you think? What other messages do you see in the story?