While reading the three short stories “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket”, “The Bet”, and “The Jewels” all three of them shared one common theme. Each story presents different settings and situations, but the message is clear, wealth and material possessions mean nothing when compared to things such as family, experiences, etc. First, in all three stories in the beginning, the protagonists lived a life full of materialistic pursuits. Tom Benecke, the main protagonist for the story “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” was obsessed with his work. “The work could be duplicated. it wouldn't bring him a raise in pay--not immediately, anyway, or as a direct result. It won't bring me a promotion either, he argued--not of itself.” (Finney Paragraph 23). …show more content…
In the beginning of the story “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” Tom Benecke neglects his wife and stays at home. “he was tempted to go with her; it was not actually true that he had to work tonight, though he very much wanted to. This was his own project, unannounced as yet in his office, and it could be postponed.” (Finney 15). He was so obsessed with his work that he made his wife go alone. Later, after his near-death experience and realizing that his wife is far more important to him than some paper. “There he got out his topcoat and hat and, without waiting to put them on, opened the front door and stepped out, to go find his wife.” (Finney paragraph 84). After his realization that his job isn't everything, he hurried to go see his wife, and he couldn't care less about the paper. In the story “The Bet” the young lawyer isolates himself from any social connections and dismisses any human interaction for material gain. Later on in the story the young lawyer realizes that the material gain that he wished for is meaningless, and to prove this he wrote in the letter “To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise.” (Chekhov page 7). In the story “The Jewels” the main protagonist Lantin had a wife who he loved. “He was unspeakably happy with her. She governed his household with such a clever economy that they seemed to live in luxury. She lavished the most delicate attentions on her husband, coaxed and fondled him; and so great was her charm that six years after their marriage, Monsieur Lantin discovered that he loved his wife even more than during the first days of their honeymoon.” (Massapasant Page 1). Lantin’s wife was what made Lantin happy, and made him enjoy life. After his wife died Lantin believed he could bury his sorrows with his riches,
Summary of “The Money” by Junot Diaz In this essay, the author recounts a life event from his childhood. The story begins with Junot describing his family's financial status and living arrangement. Diaz and his four siblings lived with their two parents in a catchpenny apartment in a rough urban borough. Not steadily employed, his mother and father were in a constant struggle to keep the family afloat monetarily; to the point where decent, alimental food was not a likely sight in the household. Despite their meager inhabitance his mother was stowing $200 to $300 monthly and sending it to her parents in the Dominican Republic.
In the story, “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket,” the main character is Tom Benecke. As the story progresses, he is faced with many decisions. He is forced to act quickly and because of this, many things about him change. In the story, Tom is ambitious, self-centered, and impatient. These three traits change significantly throughout the story.
Carnegie opens his essay with the statement that there are three main ways most wealthy people use or distribute their money. First, some pass their money on to the next generation. Children...
In comparing and contrasting the short stories “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker and “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, tradition is carried on throughout the generations. Symbols are often used in these short stories to convey these messages of tradition and heritage. Rebellious characters are also found in both of the stories, trying to alter traditions to meet their own personal expectations. However, in contrast “The Lottery” is a much more barbaric story that does not reveal the cruelty until the end of the story. The story involves an entire village of families following a tradition. “Everyday Use” is not as tragic, it deals with a conflict within a single family unit.
The Hadley’s, a family that has everything, a house that cost about $30,000 in a time where the average house cost $8,200, which rocks them to sleep and ties their shoes. The White’s, a family that must work for everything and wish for certain possessions, such as money. These families showcased in two different short stories seem like polar opposites, and while they are very different, they have more in common than what is portrayed on the surface. The “Monkey’s Paw” deals with a family that is able to make it by, however their monetary situation could be improved, and they find themselves coming across a talisman that caused them nothing but issues. On the other hand, “The Veldt” deals with a family who is spoiled and has access to everything
Everyone can pant a pretty picture of how wonderful their life may be. In fact, doing so may come with a consequences. Reading these three short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell and a short biography by Malcolm X called “My First Conk”, set off many different emotions. I felt as these author’s wanted to me to feel in such way. I believe there is a life lesion in every life story someone has to share, no matter how small or big.
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
In Jack Finney’s “Content of the Dead Man’s Pockets”, the setting takes place before the invention of computers and typewriters are still in use. Tom Benecke is a man who lives on the 11th story of an apartment on Lexington Avenue. One evening, while his wife goes out to attend a movie, Tom’s paper flies out the window. He then goes out on the ledge to retrieve the paper he is working on. Tom goes through a terrible experience trying to get his grasp on the paper. After he gets his paper, he struggles getting back in his apartment as his window closes. Tom Benecke changes from prioritizing his work to prioritizing his wife because of a near-death experience.
“The Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket” by Jack Finney illustrates what is really important in life and how certain life experiences can open our eyes. This story uses a third person point of view and uses strong figurative language to grab the reader’s attention. The effect of this story changes how the reader may look at life and that one day you will no longer walk on this Earth. People should take a better look at what is more important and live life in the moment while they still can. While there are many places this story could have taken place, it occurred in one of the biggest cities.
Feeling a little anxious yet excited: “They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed” (Jackson 1). The population’s greed to keep traditions and comfort blinds them to their own families’ necessities and well-being. The community’s willingness to risk a loved one’s life to preserve the lottery ritual demonstrates how unfaithful they truly are. The destructive power of greed not only hurts the community as a whole, but it also breaks family connections by overlooking the bonds of love with the unwavering quest to keep tradition at whatever cost. In both short stories, one can see that they depict characters who are consumed by their desire for something, whether it is the comfort of tradition or the accumulation of wealth.
The message to value more important things in order to have a wisely spent life is demonstrated very well through literary devices in “The Necklace”, by Guy de Maupassant. Madame undergoes an ironic moment in life as she learns what is worth valuing. She is a very greedy woman who only cares about herself. The reader would never think of her as the person to do work, but that thought changes as she misplaces what she thinks of as a valuable item. If Madame just learned how to live life in a way that will not make her upset and to value things that are valuable towards life instead of expenses, she will be better off. But this is how Madame views her life, while others take notice of the significance in their lives. Values are different towards people across the world, and Guy de Maupassant defines that in his short story, “The Necklace”.
The Aspern Papers by Henry James illustrates a classic opposition throughout the story: the underestimation of the old by the young. The narrator, Aspern’s publisher, sets himself to the task of retrieving several mysterious “papers” from a former lover of his idol, and goes in with the easy confidence of a young man who never dreams that anyone, much less an elderly lady, could be not one, but in fact several, steps ahead of him at all times in his hunt for literary gold. The relationship between Miss Bordereau and the narrator is that of the cat and the mouse, with the narrator believing he is the cat, and Miss Bordereau knowing that she has the upper hand by the simple fact of possession. The narrator is certain the love letters exist, but Miss Bordereau has no intention of turning over her private affairs to an impudent stranger who does not even have the decency to be straightforward and ask her about the letters– instead he concentrates on her niece, Miss Tina, and in effect seals his own destiny with that choice, leading to the option of marriage or losing the papers completely.
Both the stories “The Rocking Hose Winner” and “The Destructors have same theme. Although the stories are very different in many ways, both have a concept of materialism. One must analyze both the stories in order to decide the connection of materialism in the stories. In “The Destructors,” Mr. Thomas, a wealthy old man, who is referred to as “Old Misery” by the protagonist and his friends, characterizes materialism, similarly in “The Rocking Horse Winner,” Paul’s mother portrays materialistic person. Because of his mother’s greed, Paul decides to get as much money as he could so that he could get his mother’s love and make her happy. When comparing the theme of each story, one will find that the theme of both stories is the effect of materialistic people and those around them.
The character was able to understand that wealth doesn’t have to be money it can be joy or happiness. Nature can help people achieve happiness. People can achieve happiness no matter the circumstance. The author of “Truth” Nikki Grimes said, “Could be echoes of trouble, or of blessing.”
When life passes along, it tends to happen so fast, that you first realize what is important afterwards. Nowadays people have a bad habit of thinking that money is the key to all great things in life, instead of appreciating the things that money cannot buy. Valuable and fortunate thing like love, family and faith. It can even make you question if people are so ignorant, that they need a cookie to remind them of their fortune. In the short story “A fortune” written by Joy Monica T. Sakaguchi, we enter right into the head of main character. The story is about a young guy, who has been brought up in a socially unstable environment and now has become a pickpocket. One day he observes a young boy, who is being treated bad by his father, and unexpected