Contents Of The Dead Man's Pocket By Jack Finney

The story “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket” by Jack Finney, discuss about a man named Tom who almost face death. Tom wanted to go to the movies with his wife, but decide to stay home to finish some work. A small important yellow piece of paper for work flew out of the window onto the ledge. At first, he thinks he shouldn’t go out there to get it, but decide to and almost lose his life. The story’s theme based on Tom’s actions at the end of the story is that sometime people get too into their work that they never spend time with their loved one.

That wasn’t the first time that he had miss out on these nights out. “He wished, then, that he had not allowed his wife to go off by herself tonight—and on similar nights. He thought of all the

evenings he had spent away from her, working; and he regretted them.”pg.20. He has miss out so much because of work and now regrets spend his time away from his wife. He was now anger because he was going to die because of a small yellow piece of paper. “Contents of the dead man’s pockets, he thought, one sheet of paper bearing penciled notations—incomprehensible...He thought wonderingly of his fierce ambition and of the direction his life had taken; he thought of the hours he’d spent by himself, filling the yellow sheet that had brought him out here. Contents of the dead man’s pockets, he thought with sudden fierce anger, a wasted life.”pg.20. This is all because he was too into his work when he wasn’t even going to get a raise or promotion.
After getting in his apartment by breaking the window, Tom put a pencil on top on the yellow paper on the desk. Almost out the door to go join his wife, he saw the paper and pen fly out the window again. But unlike his earlier decision, he just close the door and left to go to his wife at the movies. This decision show that you shouldn’t become too obsessed with work to a point when you spend little time with your loved ones.