“Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket”

• Genre: Fiction; realistic short story
• Originally Published: 1956
• Reading Level/Interest: Adult
• Structure/Length: Approx. 22 pages
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Tom, an ambitious young corporate employee, stays home to work on a memo while his wife goes to the movies. When his notes fly out the window and land on the 11th-floor ledge of his apartment building, Tom climbs out to retrieve them and has time to contemplate what really matters in life.

Jack Finney, Author

• Bio: Born in 1911 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; died in 1995; worked in advertising in New York City before starting to write short stories; wrote mostly thrillers and science fiction; his novel The Body Snatchers was adapted as a movie four times—as Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1956 and 1978, as Body Snatchers in 1993, and as The Invasion in 2007; received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement (1987)
• Other Works: “Such Interesting Neighbors” (short story; 1951); “Of Missing Persons” (short story; 1955); The Body Snatchers (novel; 1955); Time and Again (novel; 1970)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Consequences of Unbridled Ambition
• Controlling and Overcoming Fear
• The Will to Live

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the social and cultural contexts regarding the post-WWII economic boom that motivate the story’s main character.