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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.
Tom is a very ambitious person when it comes to his work. He is caught up in getting a promotion from work by doing a project. Tom just focuses on the “big picture,” which is his future, rather than the “small picture,” which is what his wife is doing. This trait changes at the end when he decides to go to the movies with his wife. When the paper flew out the window for the second time, he realized that he can do the paper over again but he can never take back that one specific night he could have spent with his wife.
At the beginning, Tom is very self-centered and preoccupied with his work. He finds what he wants to do more important than what his wife wants to do that night. Once faced with the reality of death, he realizes how important his wife is to him. This forces him to be strong and stay alive, for her sake. The only reason he made it back into his house was because of how much he cared for her. Tom then decides to go find her at the movies, which shows that he has become less self-centered and more aware of his wife’s feelings.
Tom knows that his project can wait, but he has to have it done so his boss can read it over the weekend. The fact that his work couldn’t wait until he got back from the movies shows what an impatient person he is. When Tom is out on the ledge retrieving his paper, he is forced to be very patient and to take things one step at a time.
In the stories of Tom Sawyer and “Born Worker”, Jose’s and Tom’s actions and personalities set two very unique images in the reader’s mind. However, comparing Jose and Tom is not just black and white; they are both similar and different in special ways. Tom, a deceiving youngster, spends his time “rolling in the wealth”, whereas Jose is working hard “pumping his arms.” Jose is diligent and works hard. On the other hand, Tom spends his time playing on human nature to make other people do the work for him. Another difference is that Tom is mischievous, “bankrupting every boy in the village” while Jose is full of integrity, inspiring people to do something “bright at a difficult time.” Tom steals from the other boys, scamming them without a second
The main character, Tom Tin, faces hardships and struggles many fourteen year olds do not have to face so early on. His father has mistakenly got himself into trouble and it is up to Tom to save his father and help make his family’s future bright again. Tom has good intentions throughout the novel, but he gets himself into trouble. He turns out to be an unlikely hero after pushing through his doubts and finally triumphing over his mistakes along his journey.
This early characterization keeps readers interested in Tom and what he will do throughout the novel due to his intriguing early rebellious behavior and personality. To start analyzing Tom’s life one must start with the earliest mention of him as a child, this being a scene of Tom harassing young girls during his own baptism, ignoring those who tell him to stop. This shows early rebellion and an apt for trying societal rules, revealing that he does not care about the outcome of any situation as long as he is enjoying himself. This is backed up later in his life when Tom gets into a fight at a bar and ultimately kills a man, resulting in him going to jail for multiple years, in which he does not break maintaining sanity revealing his aptitude and strength in his ways of leading his life. This philosophy would follow him through his life, ultimately starting to take a new shape when he would later meet again with the preacher who baptized him, Jim
Later the poor and inculpable man came outside to throw the garbage. The clear night and few stars in the west and the steady, light traffic on EL Camino made him to see the life and the question in another perspective. He though about the old days and though about the future. Eventually he found how precious his wife to him and he loves his wife so much. He feel that he argue with her and make her unhappy. He feel regret, so he changed his mind. A man who loves his wife really much would so something like him.
The characterisation of Tom is constructed to show how he is torn between not hurting those he loves, and following the rules. Tom’s original context of World War 2 shaped him into being a tough and rigid person, with little enjoyment and fulfilment of life. “Being over there changes a man. Right and wrong don't look so different anymore to some.” This portrays how originally Tom was rigid in following orders and the battle for survival he faced every day, where his thoughts and feelings towards what were morally right was diluted. His delusions and thoughts carried through his life but upon mar...
Do you have your priorities straight? In “Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket” by Jack Finney, the main character, Tom didn’t. He worked all the time and never spent time with his wife. His wife Claire wanted to her husband to go to the movies with her. Instead of going to the movies, he stayed behind and worked on the yellow paper, which could get him a promotion. The paper blows out the window of his tall apartment and he goes and retrieves it on the ledge of the building. He gets the paper and goes to get back inside but he panics and the window closes, meaning he is locked outside. He tries to scream for help, but is no use, he then realizes his job isn’t worth his life, so he punches the window and causes it to break and he changes from a workaholic, to being a family man. Both setting and conflict are the main to “The Contents in a Dead Man’s Pocket.”
...was the hardness of his terms. He accumulated bonds and mortgages; gradually squeezed his customers closer and closer; and sent them at length, dry as a sponge from his door"( ).The local problem is a stepping stone to present the universal; one, which is the subject of greed, science everyone is tempted by greed. Moreover, the narrator remains in omniscient point of view to make readers know what others think about Tom: "Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words. No one ventured, however, to interfere between them; the lonely wayfarer shrunk within himself at the horrid clamor and clapper clawing; eyed the den of discord askance, and hurried on his way, rejoicing, if a bachelor, in his celibacy. After reading this passage, readers gain a bad impression of Tom.
Here Tom stands up for himself, yet at the beginning of the story we see that Tom was too scared to reply to his parents when they were fighting, but now he can stand up for himself. This is illustrated when Tom thinks to himself, “I was thinking that I might take a drink to my father, but dared not as yet suggest it” (Ross 221). This little outburst from Tom shows that he is trying to make his voice and opinions be heard over the adults. He wants to be heard and wants to be seen like a responsible person and is trying with some, but little avail. Tom also tries to work against fate by trying to teach Phillip how to stook.
Soon after the death of Tom’s father, George Black Bull, Tom is left to be the man of the family. Bessie states to Tom after burying his father, “‘Now you are the man.’”(29) That one statement has a lot of meaning. On one hand it means he has to provide for him and his mom. By hunting for food to help him and his mom stay alive and survive. Then he has to be able to catch enough to eventually save for winter. Then, during the winter, his mom dies from sickness. He brings her up to where his father was buried and buries his mom right next to his father, singing the song for going away. Bessie was a positive influence to Tom, she had taught him how to live: cook, sing the old songs, and doing things in the old way. On the other hand she was negative, because everyone else in the story was starting to live in the new ways and adapting to it, while she did not even teach Tom anything about the new ways. With the lack of his mother now, he has no one to live with, care for, except for himself, but without an adult in his life. But now he is now forced to choose his own choice and learn from them since he has no one to help him through life. For his mother, was not only his caretaker but also his teacher and mentor for living in the old ways.
He becomes enraged and comes back to his wife. After Daisy kills Myrtle they fleet together, neither claiming any responsibility. for her death. This all shows that Tom is leading a purposeless life with no long-term. goals or dreams. Daisy, who is born and marries to wealth, also has no real values or purpose in life.
At this point, Tom becomes a more selfish character. There is less sympathy given in his direction. In fact, this is probably where we feel a little more sorry for Amanda. Amanda has probably not done everything right for her family, but her intentions have always been good. Tom has lost patience and wants to pursue his journey away now.
Tom is good natured and deals with what life throws at him, during the long trip towards work the family has realized the can count on Tom to help protect them. His past isn't going to define his future or change the way he feels about his family. As they arrive to California they get the devastating news that work is sparse and many people are dying of starvation, including Grampa who dies of a stroke. When the major change of losing a family member Tom realizes that life can be gone faster than you think and you see him changing into a more considerate person and a more sentimental person towards others. After they have buried Grampa, Tom comes across a “one eyed mechanic” who he helps fix his touring car. An act that he would probably never do in his past. Steinbeck shows Toms development into a more considerate person as the book
Tom is a young man bearing the responsibility of his handicapped sister, Laura, and his suffocating mother, Amanda. He works in a factory, and uses his paycheck to provide for the family. Jim, a fellow factory worker and former high school friend, knows Tom as Shakespeare, in that Tom writes poetry, sometimes to alleviate his suppressed feelings of frustration. Poetry is one of Tom’s methods of escape from the lunacy in his home. Adventure is something Tom does not experience much of, and is angst toward his less than mediocre life is expressed in many of his arguments with Amanda.
Possibly the most recurring symbol to the story is the movies Tom retreats to at the end of the day. Tom has a strong desire to follow his father’s footsteps and leave his unsatisfying life behind,
Their relationship is strained because Tom reminds Amanda of her husband. He just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his family. He aspires to travel and see the world. He does not want to just get by; he wants to live and experience life.