Contents Of A Dead Man's Pocket Analysis

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The story “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” by Jack Finney is about a man named Tom Benecke. The story starts off with Tom contemplating whether to work or whether to be with his family. Tom is a workaholic, so he eventually decides to work rather than go with his wife. The story “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” shows readers that a life or death situation could lead to a great outcome or not depending how someone may interpret the situation. As the story takes off, we come to the basic situation where we meet the protagonist and main character Tom Benecke and encounter his conflicts. Tom lives with his wife on Lexington Avenue, New York in an apartment complex eleven stories up. Tom faces his first internal conflict when his wife decides …show more content…
After Tom broke through the window he picked up the shards of glass around the room. Tom then pulled the yellow sheet of paper out of his pocket and put it back on the desk. He went and grabbed his coat and as soon as he opened the door, the current of air from the hallway picked up the piece of paper and blew it out the window. Tom is then faced with another external conflict when the paper flies out the window again. Tom also comes to another internal conflict when he has to choose family or work again. Tom solves both of these conflicts by laughing and walking out the door to go find his wife. Lastly we see “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” come to a close and how Tom panned out all of his conflicts. This proves that the story “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” shows readers that a life or death situation could lead to a great outcome or not depending how someone may interpret the situation. This essay shows us how Tom faces many internal and external conflicts. It shows us how he overcomes each one at a time. The theme of this story relates to real life by showing us that family should come before anything else. People must be able to make sacrifices for their family no matter the situation. It can apply to us all by making us decide the right decision when we might encounter a situation like this in real

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