Deception In Roald Dahl's Man From The South

When one has mastered the art of deception, one can almost do anything one wants. If one is also ruthless, one will become a dangerous person. In Roald Dahl’s “Man From the South”, Carlos, a man with a gambling addiction persuades an American sailor to bet on a game that Carlos will offer his Cadillac against the sailor’s little finger. Carlos bets that the sailor cannot ignite his cigarette lighter ten times in succession. Carlos almost wins the bet, and in a nick of time, Carlos’ companion reveals his trickery and his ruthlessness to collect fingers. Through his deception and ruthlessness, Carlos is able to make a game that will physically hurt the sailor. One must not be fooled but others appearance because people might have hidden intentions.

Carlos’s deception enables him to make the American sailor think that he is rich.

Deception is the act of making someone think one thing, but the truth is the opposite. The narrator is sitting poolside in his Jamaican hotel when he notices Carlos expensive suit and fancy hat: “He (is) immaculately dressed in a white suit [...] He (has) on a large creamy Panama hat” (Dahl 55). Carlos’ outfit appeals to the sailor, and he surmises that Carlos must be a flashy and wealthy man. When Carlos offers the bet that if the American can light his lighter ten in a row, the American will win his car. In return, if the American loses, he must lose his little finger. Carlos impresses the sailor when he says : “I am rich man and I am sporting man also. Listen to me. Outside de hotel is my car”(Dahl 58). Again, he is showing how deceptive he is by saying he is rich and bragging about his car. His appearance tricks the sailor into accepting the bet. Carlos knows how to use deception and uses it to bait people into risking their

fingers.

In addition to being deceptive, he is also ruthless. A ruthless person is someone who shows no guilt or mercy after committing a misdeed. Once the sailor agrees to bet a dollar, Carlos tries to increase it up to a finger. Initially, he begins by going easy and saying to make a bigger bet suddenly, he brings up the evil side of him: “Some small ting you can afford to give away[...] such as, perhaps, de little finger on your left hand”(Dahl 59). Instantly, Carlos shows his ruthlessness by seemingly thinking that cutting of a finger is a big event. He does not show that he thinks he said something wrong, he only shows excitement when the sailor finally accepts the deal. Next, They start counting and get to 8. He is so close until a woman come in, and stops the bet. Then she tells the sailor: “Down where we live at home he has taken altogether forty-seven fingers”(Dahl 67). Here the woman is showing how ruthless he is because he is chopping other people's fingers off. It seems like Carlos thinks it is normal to take finger from others. Carlos is a very ruthless person and uses this trait to take fingers from others.

Carlos using his deception and ruthlessness is almost able to take a finger from an American sailor. Carlos used his deception to make it look as he is a rich man and uses it to pressure the sailor to take his bet. His ruthlessness is proven by his enjoyment of cutting off fingers and have a collection of 47 of them. They both combined to make a person to pressure people into betting his fingers. One must not be blinded by others appearance or else they will risking giving what they have to someone because of the shallow thinking.