The Contents Of The Dead Mans Pockets By Jack Finnsey

In the short story, “The contents of the dead man's pockets” by Jack Finney, a man, Tom Benecke, not only neglects his relationship with his wife but he puts his life on the line for his job. Mr. Benecke is an ambitious man who would rather choose to work than spend time with his wife, Clare. After dedicating hours of hard work collecting and recording data and facts, a gust of wind blows a piece of yellow paper out his apartment window, containing everything he has been working on. He debates the value of this piece of paper and decides to climb out onto the ledge in an attempt to reclaim his work. Unfortunately, his actions place him in an extremely dangerous situation. Throughout the story, the author corporates conflict and character change

Right away, he struggles between choosing to go with his wife or to work on his project. The fact that he chooses to stay home proves the need to succeed is stronger than his relationship with his wife. Not only will he spend hours on end for his job, but when a paper flies out the window, he is unable to stop thinking about the amount of work he would be losing if he let it go. With this said, Tom is suddenly fighting the battle to stay balanced, “he hung suspended between balance and falling ” ( ). If he had not been overly obsessed with his work and this paper, he would have been either with his wife at the movies or inside safe, not wondering whether or not he would survive. Although, it is because of his near death experience that he noticed he his job had made him delusional to what really matters. The external conflict of fighting harsh and dangerous conditions on a narrow ledge leads him to rethink how he spent his life, “he would then, abruptly, have had. Nothing“ (). Now, not only is he struggling with the thought of poorly balancing his work and personal life, but he has to stay calm in order to remain on the ledge. This is significant because it proves that sometimes people get caught up on what seems important at the time. Undeniably, the conflicts Mr. Benecke faced allowed him to realize how prioritizing work has

For instance, if Tom had never believed he was about to die, he may have never brought himself to notice he had need neglecting his wife for the sake of his job. Unfortunately, many people in the world do not realize that they are making bad decisions since they believe they are doing what is needed. And while sometimes it is easier to notice other people are not treasuring what is truly important, it is not uncommon that people are blinded to their own faults. For instance, sometimes people do not recognize who in their life is hurting them, however, they continue to prioritize the wrong people or things, as did Tom