Summary Of The Palace Thief

The short story “The Palace Thief”by Ethan Canin, follows a young boy, Sedgewick, from his youth to his adulthood. Sedgewick attended a private school where he was often disruptive, cocky, a cheater and even a leader. Sedgewick also displays these characteristics in his adult life. The central idea of this story, expressed through conflict is, individuals may grow older, but they remain the same as they were in their youth. Although people age, they still hold on to the person they were when they were younger. When Sedgewick was at St. Benedict’s school, he wasn’t the most intelligent student. Although he wasn’t smart, he somehow made it into a history competition alongside two very intelligent boys. Sedgewick didn’t know the information,

He cheated, rather than studying and winning the competition on his own. This conflict during the competition ending up, causing another boy to lose his spot on stage. Hundert was forced to lie about Sedgewick’s cheating to be able to keep his job. A conflict where Hundert could have lost his job, all because of Sedgewick’s poor choices. Thirty-seven years later, Sedgewick organizes another competition like the one from his high school years. This time he is said to want to “...reclaim his intellectual honor (Canin, 183).” In his adulthood, Sedgewick is expected to study and win the competition on his own terms, but he ends up cheating again. Hundert states, “I realized that the flesh-colored device in his ear was not a hearing aid but a

Even though he aged, he didn’t learn his lesson at all. The first time, when Sedgewick got caught, he didn’t seem fazed by being found out. After Hundert confronted Sedgewick about cheating the first time he “...looked at [him] coldy (Canin, 171).” It’s as if Sedgewick wasn’t fazed that he was discovered. He didn’t care that Hundert knew. He was being his cocky self. He even pulled all of the pages of the Outline out of his toga to show the narrator. This created tension between the two and their conflict grew. In Sedgewick’s adult life, after the narrator finds out Sedgewick was cheating, he confronts him. Hundert asks how long Sedgewick had been hard of hearing. Sedgewick replied with, “Very good, Hundert. Very good. I thought you might have known (Canin, 198).” Once again, Sedgewick is not ashamed of Hundert finding out he cheated. He is almost proud of himself for cheating and getting away with it infront of his audience. Sedgewick even takes it as far as saying that Hundert hasn’t changed much either, considering how he never told anyone that Sedgewick cheated both times that he had cheated. The conflict between Sedgewick and Hundert