John Jahrling

Ms. Garnder
English 10 Per.4
20th Jan. 2015
The Little Finger that Could
The human body is obviously, very complex, perhaps more complex than any other idea,
object, or any existing possible object in the universe. Its incredible to think of all the intricately
complicated designs, and structure and workings of all the body parts that ultimately lead to one
goal; survival. We take these extremely complicated parts, such as the brain, heart, stomach,
joints, eyes, etc. for granted, Fortunately however, they have been given attention by the
medical community, the literature community, and the pop culture community. However, all these
common body parts seem to repeat the same theme throughout literature, ( the heart being
associated with love, eyes with beauty, mind with power, hands for leadership and caring, guts
with horror) and we have been exposed so much to these ideas, in addition with the medical
community, that the workings of every body part is generally known. We use this collective
knowledge as granted as well, to write poetry, songs, and movies to impress. Heart will be so
synonymous with love, it will fade out, and instantly trigger in peoples mind. Other body parts
may catch up as well. Even the entire human body has become synonymous with many
symbols ( physical vs. mental appearance, strength, love { again}, and leadership, etc.) All these
symbols of seemingly every body part is appealing to the ear, however, one little, yet useful,
body part has been left out in the cold,tossed aside in the streets, left to no attention, which has
been stolen by his much more symbolic body. This little, forgotten part, is the pinkie.
He is part of a team that makes up the beautiful symbolism of the human hand
( associated with teamwork, mastery, love {again},skill, etc.) Like a lord of a fief, the hand takes
all the credit, for his peasants, the fingers, work to create his reputation, But, it is forgiven, for
the peasants do get their own spotlight. The pointer, associated with direction and leadership,

the middle finger, synonymous with resentment, the thumb, related to a good work, the ring
finger, in partnership with love (again). But the pinkie? He is the peasant in the fields whose
hard work is ignored. Besides the well-known pinkie swear, which is more of a joking matter
rather than a symbolic meaning, the pinkie, despite his just as useful purpose, is shooed away
by every community who would rather have a cliche part, like the heart. Even the medical
community, whose purpose is to collect every bit of information on every body part, has, like the
pinkie, little to say. The Wikipedia page for this little guy, barely says a paragraph, even the
medical and scientific facts. Its brothers, like the pointer, have more than 2 paragraphs. If the
pinkie were a beggar, the Wikipedia page written about him, then, would be like tossing a rusty
penny into the cup which he panhandles with.To the community, he is but an outcrop of bone
but outputting all the work that it can.
The literature, film, tv, art, poetry and pop culture are rich communities, only wanting the
most expensive jewelry, the most exquisitely fine foods and hearing only the finest stories. If the
rest of the body parts are like filet mignon to the culture community, then the pinkie, is stale,
cold, brittle hardtack. If the other body parts are a Pink Star Diamond, then the pinkie is a spec
of dirt. It's sad to find out that there's barely any mention of this little finger in culture, the only
notable mention being Thomas Lawrences painting, Pinkie which portrays a young female
directing the pinkie towards the viewer, still however, she is clad in a white, flowing dress, a pink
bonnet and majestically portrayed against a beautiful night sky.This painting is intended to relate
to the symbols associated with the female body. Not the pinkie. That painting was composed
three hundred years ago, and no mention of the pinkie has been uttered ever since. But after
laying dormant in the culture community for three centuries, a spark of imagination has awoken
its coldness, and lit up the useful symbolism of the pinkie with an explosion of creativity, and a
new way to deliver this art. It took three centuries for even a notice, but the pinkie has had its
full share of the limelight, recently too. Harnessing the power and popularity of a new art culture
and community that is now exponentially growing amongst all ages, a design studio known as

Take-Two Games, have used video games as a way to reach out and spread creativity,
imagination and art to all ages. (Lets face reality, this new idea of video games far surpass the
interest of children and adults than most form of art or culture. I still remember my friends
reaction when I told them I started playing it. They told me to Get a life, Watch movies
instead, Listen to music, Lets go on an adventure, like, explore, you know?. Little did they
know, I was doing all three ). Take-Two Games combines many aspects of art, poetry, drama,
music and storytelling in their wildly popular video game, Bioshock Infinite in which the
protagonist, Booker Dewitt, a P.I. with a gambling problem is approached by a mysterious man
who states to Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt ( Robert Lutece, Bioshock Infinite,
Take-Two Games). This leads Booker on an adventure to find this mysterious girl, which, upon
finding her, he realizes there is a lot more to her than can be comprehended. The game
revolves around Booker, and this girl, Elizabeth, uncovering many mysteries of her. One of the
largest mystery, being her missing pinkie on her right hand. It bothers Elizabeth and troubles her
so much, that Booker goes as far as killing the man who caused it. His rage, expresses the
troubles that the missing pinkie has caused for him and Elizabeth. You [REDACTED]
[REDACTED] [REDACTED], shes your daughter, you cut off her finger, and pinned it on me!
( Booker Dewitt, Bioshock Infinite, Take-Two Games). It may have taken awhile, but finally, the
pinkie received its fame.
There can be no personal experience with the pinkie. Its largely ignored, and no one on
this planet has memories, good or bad, of the pinkie. Sure, you may have remembered cutting
your pinkie while cooking, or snapping the bone in two, or etcetera, but those memories, do not
follow you. But, the pinkie has always been there. Largely ignored, small in size, large in
purpose, yet a tiny use. But, how about those crazy free-climbers who scaled the face of HalfDome, who needed an extra finger to hoist themselves on one more outcrop, that finger, was
the pinkie. How about those who defended nations from tyranny, oppression and let freedom
ring, like those fighter jet pilots, whose bomb-release switch is often near the pinkie? How about

those medics who needed just an extra finger to stop the bleeding, that finger, was the pinkie.
How about those who grasped his/her nations flag,or grasped a love one, or grasped a trophy of
accomplishment, or grasped the concept of defeat, or grasped the concept of life? The pinkie,
was always there. Silent in his work, but loudly effective.
The eagle on the Great Seal of the U.S., strikes a bold feeling of a myriad of emotions;
leadership, courage, bravery,you get the idea. But the pinkie? Often one may say in a joking
matter that it represents trust. This is making fun of its size and but, many tiny things surround
us every day that we dont notice and take for granted. This includes people too, sadly. Like that
maintenance worker who works incredibly long hours to maintain a nice environment which
people barely notice, like the almost-considered slaves that work in sweatshops to provide you
with technology you still complain about, like the the farmers who painfully toil the soil for your
food. All this, and many more, are covered up by the more grand things, to please the public,
and I get it completely. No one wants to pay attention to small things. But all the small things
that surround you in life, without the small details, there would be no grand, bigger features. The
pinkie, is exactly this. He makes up your useful hand, yet the pinkie himself, the peasant in the
field, is shadowed by the lord of the fields, which more people, would tend to care more about.