Salad Fingers

Summary

In the cartoons, of which there are presently five (as of November 25th 2004), the eponymous Salad Fingers inhabits a sparse, desolate world where he obsesses over finding rusty articles (particularly spoons) to touch. His fluctuating, gentle monologues serve to entice the viewer into a bizarre and unreal world.

Salad Fingers likes blood, or as he calls it, "the red water." He is seen cutting open his finger with a rusty nail in episode 2, before hallucinating about a freezer room full of animal carcasses hanging from hooks. He also has a sort of fetish for taps, and once fantasized about riding atop of a flying tap.

The main music is performed by Boards of Canada. The deep dark bassy music in the soundtrack that appears when Salad Fingers is scared is actually David Firth playing the guitar (slowed down and reversed).

Salad Fingers has been described as "an incredibly sick and twisted work of genius, doting on subjects such as self-harm, schizophrenia and loneliness" (by a Wikipedia user). A theory website exists, offering various insights into Salad Finger's behavior. Viewers have expressed opinions on Salad Fingers [1], ranging from finding it hilariously funny (although the author maintains it is not intended to be), to finding it puerile and disgusting.

Characters

• Salad Fingers – The main character; a green "man" with a hunch on his back. His long, green fingers are sensitive to rough surfaces. Salad Fingers will stimulate himself by rubbing his fingers on such objects as rusty nails, rusty tea kettles, metal jail-cell bars and nettles.

Later episodes introduce other characters:

• Hubert Cumberdale – A finger puppet whom Salad Fingers "invites" to dinner (ep. 2). A special interest character, appearing in a couple of Salad Finger's fantasies as a life sized being (and he tastes of "soot and poo"). Renamed Barbara Logan-Price in episode 5.
• Marjory Stewart-Baxter – Finger puppet whom Salad Fingers "invites" to dinner (ep. 2). Salad Fingers claims that she tastes like "sunshine dust." She has appeared in 2 episodes, but only as a puppet. In episode 5 we see her come to life, but still as a finger puppet. She watches Salad Fingers eat outside with Mable through the window.
• Jeremy Fisher – Finger puppet whom Salad Fingers "invites" to dinner (ep. 2). Has only appeared in one episode thus far.
• Milford Cubicle (though his name-tag reads "Harry") – Appearing in episode three, Cubicle is a human-ish armless being who bleeds to death outside of Salad Fingers' door as a result of banging his head against it.
• Bordois – Appearing in episode four, Bordois is a woodlouse which Salad Fingers accidentally kills. He calls her "little sister", and she lives in a hole below a rusty nail in Salad Fingers' house.
• Mable – Appearing in episode five, Mable is a young girl who happens to be the first guest at Salad Fingers' picnic. More importantly, she is the first character other than Salad Fingers who can speak. Her "mouth-words" apparently traumatize Salad Fingers, which may illustrate his lack of verbal relationships in his life of solitude.

Un-named characters include a creature who falls in love with Salad Fingers (ep. 4), a young boy who gets trapped in Salad Fingers' oven (ep. 2) a big-eyed child whom Salad Fingers meets on his quest to find "the perfect spoon" (ep. 1)

Attributes of the character Salad Fingers

At first glance, Salad Fingers may appear to be a bald, green man wearing a grey sweater and jeans. However, he has many attributes which separate him from any normal human being, assuming that Salad Fingers is human (which is unlikely).

• His obviously large fingers, with only 3 at the end of each arm.
• Salad Fingers speaks English, although he did speak some words in French in one of the episodes (albeit with an uncommon accent). He says, specifically: "Alors: habille-la. Comment t'appelles-tu? Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?" This translates more or less as: "So: dress her. What's your name? What's going on?"
• He has rotten, yellow teeth with green food gunks adorning them, as well as bloody gums.
• He lacks earlobes or a nose.
• He has blood-red irises, which, along with the pupil, shrink when frightened and enlarge when happy.
• His clothes are surprisingly clean and aren't tattered; his shoes look clean as well.
• He appears hairless, but actually has hair on his chest, stomach and at the start of his fingers.
• He owns a working oven in his wooden shack.
• His wooden shack has the number 22 on the door.
• He doesn't seem to know about death. He cannot tell whether something is alive or not, and he doesn't understand how things can die.
• He can lactate. This is shown in episode 3.

External links

• Salad Fingers on Newgrounds.com
• Creator's homepage
• Interview with David Firth
• Banana Fingers – A parody on Newgrounds
• Wurst Fingers – A German parody