Summary Of Contents Of A Dead Man's Pocket

In the story “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” written by Jack

Finney, the main character named Tom goes through a near death

experience causing him to realize that ambitions are not all that life is

about, that his job is not more important than his wife, and that he is

missing out on life because of his ambitions. The conflict in this story is

a man versus self because Tom’s ambition clouded his judgement into

believing that his job was more important than his life, so important

that he risked his life for it.

Additionally, a conflict that comes up is how the husband spends

too much time on his work, he is focused too much on his job that he

ignores his life. This takes away time with wife,
Contents of the dead man's pockets, he thought with

sudden fierce anger, a wasted life.”

Furthermore, he now understood that he wasted all that time on

his work while really accomplishing nothing. He had wasted precious

moments that he could have spent with his wife that now he would not

have a chance to do, it was too late. There would be nothing to

remember him by, no accomplishments, no memories. After finally

being able to get back into his apartment by breaking the window he

knows what he has been missing out on, his thoughts are not clouded

by his need to work anymore. He understands that life was not meant

to be spent working to have a life, it was meant to be with ones you

love. When he gets back into his apartment he proves that he is a

changed man by going out to catch up with his wife to see the movie.

And the fact that he laughs and ignors the paper flew back out the

window when he opened the door to leave that he had just retrieved

from outside is proof that his job is not his main thought anymore.

Tom’s near death experience helped him to understand