Contents Of The Dead Man's Pocket Character Analysis

The short story “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” by Jack Finney is a story full of suspense. In the story, the main character, Tom Benecke, faces a challenging task. Throughout the story, Tom goes on a daring journey to recover a piece of paper containing information that will change his future. On his quest, Tom experiences a wave of emotions as events unfold. Tom Benecke is a tall, lean, dark-haired young man who looks like he could have played basketball in college. Tom is the protagonist and antagonist of the story. Tom’s is his own enemy in the story, as his inner emotions play against him during his journey to retrieve the paper. Tom is a major character in the story, as he dominates the narrative of the story. Tom’s character is dynamic because Tom’s emotions and train of thought change based on the actions he performs throughout the story. Tom is a hard worker, as he is willing to put in the time to better life for himself and his family. Tom’s weakness is that he puts his work in front of the more important things in life. He chooses his work over spending time with his wife and focusing on the greater aspects of living

The promotion he is striving to obtain will help him be able to provide a comfortable life for his wife and himself. He spent countless hours at stores in the area gathering data about people’s shopping habits and hours calculating facts and figures. All the information he has collected has been written down on a yellow sheet of paper. That yellow sheet of paper flies out of the window and lands on a ledge of his building, just out of the reach of Tom. This creates a dilemma for Tom: Should he abandon the paper and lose his chances at a promotion, or should he risk his life to better his life? Tom decides to go for the paper and put his life on the line, putting his work before