Tom Benecke has chosen to stay at home and work on his business proposal rather than to go to the movies with his wife. He knows Clare will be disappointed at having to go to the theater by herself, but this will give him an opportunity to have some privacy for three or four hours to concentrate on writing the final draft of his proposal. Although he lives on the eleventh floor of a Manhattan apartment building and his yellow worksheet containing all his accumulated information has blown out the window, Tom persuades himself it wouldn't be a very serious risk to climb out on the narrow ledge to go after it.

It occurred to him that if this ledge and wall were only a yard above ground — as he knelt at the window staring out, this thought was the final confirmation of his intention — he could move along the ledge indefinitely.

It is only because of the dizzying height that Tom would have any difficulty retrieving his paper. Otherwise, it is just a matter of walking a short distance along a ledge and walking back again. All Tom must do is avoid looking down, although in his situation there is a perverse temptation to do so. Looking down could cause him to have vertigo and fall over backwards into empty space. If the worksheet had simply flown off among the Manhattan skyscrapers, Tom could forget about it, but

he saw that the paper was caught firmly between a projection of the convoluted corner ornament and the ledge. 

How could Tom forget about the worksheet when he wouldn't be able to keep himself from looking out the window every couple minutes to make sure it was still there?

Of all the papers on his desk, why did it have to be this one in particular! On four long Saturday afternoons he had stood in supermarkets counting the people who passed certain displays... From stacks of trade publications... he had copied facts, quotations, and figures onto that sheet. And he had carried it with him to the Public Library on Fifth Avenue, where he'd spent a dozen lunch hours and early evenings adding more. All were needed to support and lend authority to his idea for a new grocery-store display method; without them his idea was a mere opinion. 

Time was of the essence. If Tom procrastinated until Clare came home from the movies, she wouldn't dream of letting him climb out the window onto that ledge. She would think he was utterly insane. It would be better not to tell her he had done such a crazy thing, even after he had actually done it. He wants to be working at the typewriter when she returns home so he can casually ask, "How was the movie?" If he didn't get that worksheet tonight, then tomorrow morning he would have to go to the office. When he returns from work in the early evening and looks out the window, the yellow sheet could be gone forever!

Tom does not believe his life is really in danger until he reaches the paper and must look down for a second to get a grip on it with the tips of his fingers.

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.

Tom didn't believe he was taking any risk when he got out on that narrow ledge and edged his way to where the paper was stuck. After looking down, though, he feels doomed to die. Tom even imagines his body being found on the sidewalk far below and the police looking through his pockets trying to find out who he was.

All they'd find in his pockets would be the yellow sheet. Contents of the dead man's pockets, he thought, one sheet of paper bearing penciled notations—incomprehensible.

Like many stories, this one is built on choices made by the main character. What choice has Tom already made when the story opens in "Content of the Dead Man's Pocket"? Why does he choose to risk his life to retrieve the paper?

Tom Beneke does not actually believe he is risking his life in his attempt to retrieve the paper that has blown out the window. He convinces himself that it will actually be very easy because the vital yellow sheet scribbled with his irreplaceable notes is so close to the window that he can practically reach it--but not quite.

He thought about the poker from the fireplace, then the broom, then the mop--discarding each thought as it occurred to him. There was nothing in the apartment long enough to reach that paper.

There is a ledge right below his window. Of course, he would never have climbed out there if the ledge hadn't existed, and he would never have done it if he thought his life was in danger. But once he gets outside he realizes that the ledge isn't as wide as he had thought. It isn't as wide as his feet, so he has to inch along on the balls of his feet. And his awkward position forces him to keep his face flattened against the brick wall. He tries not to look down because the view from the eleventh floor might give him vertigo. But when he gets to the paper he has to look down. It is at this point that he sees a sight that terrifies him, freezes him, and makes him realize the peril he has placed himself in by his series of choices.

We realize that Tom has already made some fateful choices before he decides to climb out of his apartment window.

He crossed the room to the hallway entrance and, leaning against the doorjamb, hands shoved into his back pockets again, he called, "Clare?" When his wife answered, he said, "Sure you don't mind going alone?"

"No." Her voice was muffled, and he knew her head and shoulders were in the bedroom closet. Then the tap of her high heels sounded on the wood floor and she appeared at the end of the little hallway, wearing a slip, both hands raised to one ear, clipping on an earring. She smiled at him--a slender, very pretty girl with light brown, almost blonde, hair--her prettiness emphasized by the pleasant nature that showed in her face. "It's just that I hate you to miss this movie; you wanted to see it too."

He decides to stay home that night and work on his precious report to the management of the wholesale grocery company he works for. He encourages his wife to go to the movies alone. He wants to have the place to himself so he can concentrate. If he hadn't decided to go into the business jungle of Manhattan, and if he hadn't been so ambitious to succeed in that business that he was becoming a workaholic and neglecting his wife, then he wouldn't be out on that ledge. If he hadn't chosen to work on his report that night, he wouldn't have lost the sheet of notes. If he hadn't sent his wife to the movies, she would have been there to help him in his time of utmost need. A number of choices had led to his being frozen to the brick wall eleven stories above the street, unable to move his legs, certain that he would either faint or succumb to vertigo and end up smashed on the pavement far down below.

The critical point in the story comes when Tom finally gets to the paper and, for the first time, has to look down in order to be able to grasp it with one hand. Then he has to take in the moving spectacle of Manhattan at night.

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.

It was a crazy thing to do, but Tom didn't believe his life was in danger until he got out on the ledge, moved away from his apartment window, and was forced to look down. Then he realized he was not only in danger, but as good as dead. If his wife had been with him while he was working on his report, she never would have let him climb out of that window onto that narrow ledge. Woman have better sense in such matters than men. She would have realized it was crazy--and perhaps she would have made him see how crazy it was.

The title of the story helps make the reader believe that Tom is doomed to fall to his death.

It occurred to him irrelevantly that his death on the sidewalk below would be an eternal mystery; the window closed--why, how, and from where could he have fallen? No one would be able to identify his body for a time, either--the thought was somehow unbearable and increased his fear. All they'd find in his pockets would be the yellow sheet. Contents of the dead man's pockets, he thought, one sheet of paper bearing penciled notations--incomprehensible.

When "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" opens, what choice has Tom already made? Why does he choose to risk his life to retrieve the paper?

When the story opens Tom has chosen to stay at home and work on an office memo rather than accompany his wife Clare to the movies, even though they are showing a movie he has wanted to see, and even though he feels a little guilty about disappointing Clare by sending her off alone. As a good fiction writer, Jack Finney knows the value of appealing to all the reader's senses to make his scenes vivid and seemingly real. Notice how he appeals to the sense of smell when Tom says goodbye to his wife.

He kissed her then and, for an instant, holding her close, smelling the perfume she had used, he was tempted to go with her....He gave his wife a little swat and opened the door for her, feeling the air from the buildinig hallway, smelling faintly of floor wax, stream past his face.

Tom does not actually choose to risk his life to retrieve the yellow sheet of paper that blows out the window when he opens the front door for his wife and creates a draft. He tells himself it will be safe and simple, as long as he doesn't look down.

It occurred to him that if this ledge and wall were only a yard above ground--as he knelt at the window staring out, this thought was the final confirmation of his intention--he could move along the ledge indefinitely.

He makes two serious errors in judgment before he climbs out the window of his eleventh-floor Manhattan apartment. One is that he overestimates the width of the ledge. The other is that he does not realize he will be forced to look down when he gets to his precious paper.

He moved on the balls of his feet, heels lifted slightly; the ledge was not quite as wide as he'd expected.

Because the ledge is so narrow, Tom has to shuffle along sideways, hugging the brick wall, grabbing crevices with his fingertips, and resisting the natural temptation to look down. But when he reaches the paper he can't pick it up in a nartural manner. If the ledge were wider he could turn sideways and bend at the waist. But there is no room to turn sideways. He has to keep facing the building and, by bending his knees, lower himself far enough down to be able to reach the paper with his arm extended. In that awkward position he is forced to look down--and this is where he realizes he has put his life at extreme risk.

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 explosion of absolute terror roared through him.

This is excellent description, saved for this crucial moment. The moving lights and changing traffic signals, as well as the moving dots of pedestrians, are sure to make him dizzy. The reader's suspense is intensified because the title of the story seems to suggest that Tom is going to be found dead. The author eventually justifies his title with the following insight into Tom's mind:

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 there. Contents of the dead man's pockets, he thought with sudden fierce anger, a wasted life.

Tom only chose to stay in his safe and warm little apartment to do some paper work. He ended up facing almost certain death on a cold, windy, precarious perch high above oblivious and uncaring Manhattan.

Like many stories, Jack Finney's short story "Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets" is built on choices made by the main charactor. What choice has Tom already made when the story opens, and why does he choose to risk his life to retrieve the paper?

Jack Finney’s short story “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” tells of a man you has already made a fateful decision when the story begins.  Tom Benecke and his wife Clara had planned to the movies together, but Tom has changed his mind and decided to stay home to work on a project for his job, a project that he hopes will facilitate his upward movement with the company.  As he and Clara prepare to separate for the evening, it is clear that Clara is not enamored with Tom’s decision:

She nodded, accepting this. Then, glancing at the desk across the living room, she said, "You work too much, though, Tom--and too hard."

He smiled. "You won't mind though, will you, when the money comes rolling in and I'm known as the Boy Wizard of Wholesale Groceries?"

"I guess not." She smiled and turned back toward the bedroom.

Tom’s decision to remain at home to work on a project that he hopes will help him rise up the corporate ladder has already been made when “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” begins.  That decision precipitates a chain of events that end with Tom convinced that he needs to make some fundamental changes in how he views all that is important to him – his marriage and his job.

Tom has been accumulating data for an independent project that he hoped to present to his superiors the next day.  He could have waited and done it the next week, but he was anxious and wanted his bosses to spend the weekend contemplating his personal initiative and the brilliance of his proposal.  And all of the data he had painstakingly accumulated was on one particular yellow sheet of paper.  When a breeze that blows through the window he has opened to his apartment in a high-rise building, he can’t let the paper get away.  It represents too much work and too much potential to elevate him above his colleagues.  His thought process was described by Finney as such:

"It was hard for him to understand that he actually had to abandon it. . . Of all the papers on his desk, why did it have to be this one in particular! On four long Saturday afternoons he had stood in supermarkets counting the people who passed certain displays, and the results were scribbled on that yellow sheet. From stacks of trade publications, gone over page by page in snatched half-hours at work and during evenings at home, he had copied facts, quotations, and figures onto that sheet. And he had carried it with him to the Public Library on Fifth Avenue, where he'd spent a dozen lunch hours and early evenings adding more. All were needed to support and lend authority to his idea for a new grocery-store display method; without them his idea was a mere opinion. And there they all lay in his own improvised shorthand--countless hours of work--out there on the ledge."

Contemplating the prospects of successfully retrieving the paper that now sits precariously outside his window and debating with himself the risk-reward ratio, Tom decides to risk his life to retrieve that yellow sheet of paper.  Tom makes a choice to risk his life retrieving the piece of paper, only to later, after coming perilously close to falling to his death with only that sheet of paper in his pocket, conclude that the effort at not been worth the risk, and that a better choice would to place the sanctity of his marriage to Clara above his professional ambitions – if only for a night.

In"Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," what choice has Tom already made when the story opens? Why does he choose to risk his life to retrieve the paper? 

At the beginning of this short story, Tom is clearly presented as a man who is driven by a relentless desire to show himself as being best of the best in his company. Although he is young, he is obsessed with a determination to make his way to the very top of his company, and he is willing to put in any extra hours and effort to be noticed by his superiors and identified as a young, up-and-coming individual. What the sheet of paper that has just blown out of the window represents is hours of hard, extra and unpaid work that Tom has put into his job in the hope of gaining just that kind of recognition, and this is why, even before the paper has blown out of the window, it is clear that Tom will risk his life to get the paper:

But just the same, and he couldn't escape the thought, this and other independent projects, some already done and others planned for the future, would gradually mark him out from the score of other young men in his company. They were the way to change from a name on the payroll to a name in the minds of the company officials. They were the beginning of the long, long climb to where he was determined to be, at the very top. And he knew he was going out there in the darkness, after the yellow sheet fifteen feet beyond his reach.

In a sense, the decision that Tom makes before the story opens to not accompany his young beautiful wife, whom he clearly loves, to the movies, foreshadows this later decision. It marks him out as a man who is so fixated on success that he will sacrifice and risk anything in order to "climb to where he was determined to be." He is risking his marriage and alienating his wife from him in order to achieve this, so in a sense, it is an easy decision for him to make when he decides to risk his life as well. Finney therefore in the character of Tom presents a character who is meant to be a parody of the American Dream: a man who is willing to risk everything in order to achieve success, and who misses out on life in the present as a result. It is therefore highly ironic that at the end of the story Tom is happy to watch the sheet of paper he has just risked his life for blow out of the window with nothing more than laughter. Through the process of risking his life, and nearly losing it, he has been forced to re-examine his priorities and has a more balanced perspective as a result, as demonstrated through is decision to join his wife for the movie.