Literary Devices Used In Contents Of A Dead Man's Pocket

Literary devices used in “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket”

The art of suspense and tension is one few writers master. Jack Finney is one of those few authors who have practiced the study and put it to use. His work on “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” is a shining example of how to make your readers feel anxious or worried for a character’s well-being. Throughout the story, you are left wondering how Tom Beneke will conquer his fear of the ledge he put himself on. Near the beginning of “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket”, we are treated to a bit of foreshadowing. A part of the story that shows this is paragraph 4. When Tom tried to open the window, it took a lot of his strength to open it just a few inches. This foreshadows how the window will be hard to open once he tries to come back inside. The payoff in paragraph 47 tells how hard it is to open the window, even with long experience with opening the window. This all comes around and connects the two events, making the one near the beginning of the

This is when an author pours so much detail into a story to the point where the story seems like it took more time to play out than it really did. It is used heavily throughout the story, but the best example of this is in paragraph 25, all the way through to paragraph 53. There is so much detail in what Tom Beneke is doing to cross the building, retrieve the yellow paper, and then return to the window. All of these paragraphs add up to an in-story time of 8 minutes! The way that the author expresses the detail in the story is commendable to the highest regard. Reading throughout every paragraph will leave readers feeling anxious for Tom, wondering what he would do to get out of this predicament he found himself stuck in. Watching him overcome the stress of a near-death experience like this is fantastic, and the manipulation of time helps the reader feel almost empathetic toward