Roald Dahl's 'Man From The South'

Man from the South: A Story of Addiction and Codependency
Roald Dahl author of Man from the South, promotes through his story awareness of the issues that the population of addicts face today in their daily activities and how their addiction affect their families. Man from the South tells the story of a bet between a South American named Carlos and a young cadet. Carlos who is staying at a Jamaican hotel goes to the swimming pool to see the young American sailors having fun at the pool, this is where he meets the narrator of this story. One of the American cadets sits near Carlos and the narrator to smoke a cigar, and offers a cigar to both Carlos and the narrator. The young cadet ,who is the only one with a lighter, is interrupted by Carlos …show more content…
She tells everybody in the room that Carlos does not have anything left to bet with, the Cadillac that he bet is hers and that everything Carlos had, she won it from him. Fortunately the woman comes before anything happens to the young cadet and stops Carlos from cutting off another finger. Roald Dahl in the short story Man from the South, presents the reality of life and today’s society through his characters. For instance, the young cadet trusts in the promise of a stranger to give away his Cadillac. Many young people fail to be objective with the decisions they make or the people they trust. Carlos, even though he is old, he does not evaluate the consequences of his decisions which shows that his selfish personality could have upset his wife and lost the only car they have. On the other hand, although the narrator does not agree with the idea of the bet he does not contribute to stop the bet neither persuade both Carlos and the young boy to reconsider their foolish agreement. A Man from the South, through the lives of the main (Carlos and his wife) showcases the struggle of a family when a family members in the family struggles with addiction; both Carlos and his wife perform