What is The Missing Finger?

The missing finger symbolizes moral jeopardy. Ji Lin, Ren, Shin, and Yi know they are four of a set of five Confucian virtues. But Yi warns Ji Lin that the fifth one of them is "especially bad," though he admits "there's something a bit wrong with each of us" (137). The shriveled finger of Dr. MacFarlane, horrifying and cursed as it is, symbolizes Lydia's break from the set and how she uses the power of her name, order, to rearrange events to suit her selfish needs.