Man from the South

"Southern People" is part of a collection of short stories called "Unexpected Stories". The theme includes adventure, cruelty, revenge, and (probably not surprisingly) high risk betting. This story includes all of the above topics except retribution. Retaliation certainly has allegations and surprises. Most readers expect Americans to win or lose a bet but not be saved from risk. One of the topics of the story relates to the assumption. Assuming that the other letters are English, American, South American or Spanish, the narrator relies heavily on these. However, Dahl carefully considered these impressions subjective. Americans made more dangerous assumptions that Carlos had Cadillac and kept his promise and he would not cause him a greater physical harm than they agreed. No one tried to look at the car's title and Carlos insisted that he was in the car to see if his name was on.

During the holiday in Jamaica, the narrator met an old man in South America called Carlos. They soon joined the young US Navy students who boasted the credibility of his cigarette lighter. Carlos suggested using his Cadillac to bet the American left handed little finger, and Americans could not light the lighter ten consecutive times. The Americans agreed that the narrator would play a role as a referee, admitted that he got the keys of the car, retired to Carlos' room. After the maid brought the necessary supplies to Carlos, he began to challenge by attaching the American left wrist to the table. After the eighth strike was successful, a woman suddenly jumped into the room, and Carlos was forced to drop the knife that was about to cut out American fingers. Explaining that Carlos is spiritually disturbed, they often play this game in their own country and the authorities had to escape to prevent him from going to a mental hospital.