Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket

Contents of a Dead Man's Pocket
By Jack Finney
October 8, 2008

Pre-reading: Priorities

1. Family 2. Collin (Boyfriend)/ Friends 3. School 4. Extracarricular Acvtivities 5. Personal Happiness/ Health

Plot Summary:

Toms Beneke is a man who is trying to gain superiority and success within his company. He starts working on a project that would show how effective a display would be for the company. The information gathered is recorded on a single sheet of paper. This information took months to gather. On the night that the story takes place his wife goes to a movie and invites him, he declines to work on the project. Oddly enough, the paper which contains all of the information flies out of the window and is stuck on a ledge outside. He decides that the only way to retrieve the paper is to climb onto the ledge and get it. Once he's on the ledge he realizes what a flawed plan it is. He shakes and panics. In this state of panic he thinks about the past few months and realizes how much he's been ignoring his family. He then decides to climb back to the window, but he bumps it shut. He can't open it without falling, so he tries to get peoples attention. He fails at this and decides to punch the window. He sets the paper down with the pencil on top of it. The paper flies out of the window and he laughs and heads out the door to find his wife.

Quotes: "Very slowly, sliding his forehead down the trough of the brick corner and bending his knees, he lowered his body toward the paper lying between his outstretched feet."

"He saw, in that instant, the Loew's theater sign, blocks ahead past Fiftieth Street; the miles of traffic signals, all green now; the lights of cars and street lamps; countless neon signs; and the moving black dots of people. And a violent instantaneous explosion of absolute terror roared through him. For a motionless instant he saw himself externally--bent practically double, balanced on this narrow ledge, nearly half his body projecting out above the street far below--and he began to tremble violently, panic flaring through his mind and muscles, and he felt the blood rush from the surface of his skin"

Group 8: Sammy and Sergio

Theme

1. Don't get so caught up in events that you forget about your family.

2. Don't put yourself in a dangerous situation for something that isn't worth the trouble.

Plot line:

Exposition: Tom Beneke writes the paper, and we find the importance of the paper, hes in his house, but the paper flies away.

Rising Action: he goes out to get the paper, he's stuck on the ledge, scared, the window shuts.

Climax: grabbing paper, punches window.

Falling action: jumping into the window, the paper flying away.

Resolution: him finding his wife. and going on with his life