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The Pobble Who Has No Toes
Written by Chloe on Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Pobble who has no toes
Had once as many as we;
Later in Edward Lear’s poem, we find out just how many that is:
Nobody knew: and nobody knows
How the Pobble was robbed of his twice five toes!
I have a friend who has twice six toes. Interesting, isn’t it?
The woman who has twelve toes
Has just as many fingers as me.
How can this be?
Okay, so I suck at poetry!
My friend had a couple of fingers amputated when she was a kid. She showed me the scars. Why the fingers and not the toes? Interesting, isn’t it?
She has no problem with the twelve toes. The extra fingers would not have been much problem either. This was a cosmetic surgery, performed without informed consent. Who is making these decisions? Who decides what is the best number of fingers? Why leave the twice six toes?
Six toes on a foot is okay because you can wear a shoe to cover them up, and pass as normal. Those extra fingers would freak people out though; wouldn’t they? My friend is the kind of person who, making the choice as an adult, would have been proud to keep those extra digits.
My favorite science fiction novel is "The Chrysalids", by John Wyndham. It was published the year I was born, and I read it many times as a child. It’s influence on me was profound. The protagonist, David, narrates the story and is nine years old when the action begins with his meeting a girl:
"What’s your name?" I asked her.
"Sophie," she told me. "What’s yours?"
"David," I said.
They play together, but in a little while Sophie hurts her foot as it gets stuck between some rocks. She needs to get her foot out of her shoe to free it.
Then she said:
"Go away! You mustn’t look."
But she couldn’t free her foot by herself; David had to help.
‘I didn’t even notice then that it had more than the usual number of toes…’
It is hard for me to collect my thoughts to continue writing because, as always, this sentence causes intense emotion for me with tears streaming down my face. I remember the first time read it. I paused to let it all sink in. I identified with Sophie so completely. I’ll explain.
The rest of the first chapter gets even more intense. Sophie’s mother had insisted that she must never ever reveal to anyone the truth about her toes. Now David knew. Was it so bad? I picked up from my mother that I must never ever reveal to anyone the truth about my genitalia. Sophie’s family had a secret. So did mine. I was it. (deliberate use of pronoun). I felt different. Sophie was different. I was different. Sophie had twice six toes. I was intersexed. Would it be so bad if people knew?
We soon find out why six toes, and also incidentally being intersexed, is so bad. David is walking back home contemplating what he has heard at church every Sunday:
"And God created man in His own image. And God decreed that man should have one body, one head, two arms and two legs: that each arm should be jointed in two places and end in one hand: that each hand should have four fingers and one thumb: that each finger should bear a flat finger-nail: and each leg shall be jointed twice and have one foot, and each foot five toes, and each toe shall end with a flat nail.
Then God created woman, also, and in the same image, but with these differences, according to her nature: her voice should be of higher pitch than man’s: she should grow no beard: she should have two breasts…
And any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. It is neither man nor woman. It is a blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God."
No wonder I loved Sophie. Sophie is different. I was different. It turns out that David is different too, but I’ll come back to that.
This book changed me. The core theme is empathy. I have sought the company of people who are different. I’m still that way today. Twelve toes are good. Ethnic differences are good. Disabilities are good. Transsexuals are good. Psychological issues are good. Physical scars are good. Psychological scars are good. It all makes life more interesting.
With maturity came the understanding that everybody is different. It’s just that some people are more adept or motivated than others at pretending to be normal.
Talking of breasts: Sean gave me the idea for this post by writing to me about breasts. It got me thinking about supernumerary breasts. I had a friend with hemiplegia and three nipples.
Talking of fingers: I wrote about my finger a year ago (Almost an Amputee). I have a standing offer for an elective amputation of my left little finger; but not the right one. What’s the difference? Not a lot. I need to wear the splint every night or else contracture sets in. The half hour tapings for flexion are down to twice a week. It still hurts to bend or unbend it. None of it seems like a big deal, but it’s enough to get me an amputation. Five fingers and a thumb would also be enough.
Is there really a difference between having six toes and wanting five, versus having five toes and wanting four? Or having five toes and wanting six… Or having one arm and wanting two, versus having two arms and wanting one? Who is making these decisions?
My previous GP told me about a former patient of hers. He was a cop. He wanted breasts. He wasn’t transsexual. He wasn’t intersexed. He just wanted breasts. He got implants; not a problem. Interesting, isn’t it?
I’ll skip most of "The Chrysalids", because I don’t want to spoil the story. Eventually David finds friends who are like him. Here’s a snippet of conversation as they approach New Zealand (no I’m not making it up):
"What is it?" I said, puzzled.
"Can’t you guess, David? It’s people. Lots and lots of our kind of people."
This is another part of the book that always makes me cry. When I first read it I wondered if I would ever find my kind of people. It took a very long time; but I did. They are you.
Pics of Sophie’s foot may be viewed at "The Bandage".
I can’t end this discussion of Pobbles without quoting the last two lines of Edward Lear’s poem:
And she said "It’s a fact the whole world knows,
That Pobbles are happier without their toes!"
Tags: Amputation, Breasts, Different, Fingers, New Zealand, Normal, Pobbles, Sophie's Foot, Toes
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1 On 29 December, 2009, Chloe said:
Thanks for providing that link to “The Chrysalids”, Sean. Be aware that there are plenty of spoilers in the excellent synopsis. However, if you do not intend to read the book, I think the synopsis further exemplifies the relevance to BIID.
I had not read literary criticism of the novel before and was interested to see what some had considered a defect with the ending. Clearly some people desire to have a simple happy ending; yet there are quite disturbing and discordant undercurrents. Some critics seem to regard this as a flaw, and suggest that if irony is intentional it should be made explicit. I disagree. I think it is a brilliant move by John Wyndham that makes the reader think deeply about the ethical principles for themselves, rather than have everything handed on a platter.