What is the main conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

Tom Benecke is all alone throughout most of the story. He sends his wife off to the movies so that he can work on a business report. Since he is all alone, his conflict is mainly an internal one, of the kind often categorized as "man against himself." He is torn between his desire to retrieve the paper that blows out the window and his fear of heights. He decides that getting the paper should be easy if only he doesn't look down. There is a streak of perversity in all of us. Tom knows he shouldn't look down, but he is tempted to do so just because he knows he shouldn't. Most people have had the experience of being on a very high place and feeling the temptation to jump. Maybe it's a death wish. Heights can be terrifying, but they can also be exhilarating. That may explain why so many people go in for rock climbing, mountain climbing, parachute jumping, bungee jumping, and other such dangerous sports. That may also explain why Jack Finney's story is still being read after so many years. We as readers share Tom's fear, but we are also vicariously enjoying the whole adventure. 

The story is told from Tom's point of view--but it is told in the third person by an anonymous narrator. The advantage of this form of story-telling is that we readers can share in Tom's emotions, but if he falls to his death on the pavement eleven floors below, we can remind ourselves that it's him, not us. The title of the story seems to imply that Tom is as good as dead when he decides to climb out on that ledge. We keep expecting him to fall and to have someone going through his pockets down below to find out who he is and perhaps determine whether it was suicide or an accident. The yellow sheet in his pocket won't help much because it is all written in his own private shorthand.

Tom succeeds in resisting the temptation to look down until he gets to the spot where his paper has become stuck. Then when he reaches down very awkwardly to get the tips of his fingers on the paper, he momentarily forgets about his determination to resist looking down. What follows is the best piece of writing in the whole story.

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.

After he has seen that sight he is nearly petrified. Eventually he forces himself to start creeping back towards his window. He never looks down again, but the spectacle he saw is imprinted in his mind, as if he were a camera and only needed a fraction of a second to snap a picture. The reader, of course, has seen the same picture and can understand how it would make it harder than ever for Tom to stay on that ledge clinging to edges of the bricks.

The internal conflict in “The Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket” is far more important than the external conflict, which involves retrieving the yellow sheet of paper and getting back into his apartment though a window which refuses to open. Tom is not trying to conquer Mount Everest but only to conquer himself.

What is the major conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" and its cause?

There are actually two major conflicts in Jack Finney's short story, "Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets." In the story, Tom Benecke is a hard-working professional who spends most of his spare time working on a new idea for marketing grocery store products. When his wife, Clare, closes a door, a piece of paper flies out the open window to the ledge below--eleven stories above Lexinton Avenue. The paper contains all of his notes for his valued project. Therein the conflict arises: Does Tom risk his life to retrieve his work? It is a case of man vs. the environment, braving the wind, cold and fear of height.

After Tom retrieves the paper, a second conflict emerges. Tom is frozen in fear after looking down below, and the return to his open window becomes a challenge of man vs. the inner man. Will he be able to overcome his own fears to safely return to his apartment? When he finally succeeds in reaching the window, he finds it is now closed, and he has no luck in breaking it or signaling for help. He eventually must choose between one, last, hardy fist-punching blow to the glass: He will either break it and save his life or the imbalance caused by the blow will tumble him to his death below.

What is the main internal conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

In this story, Tom Benecke has got himself into quite a predicament, and I would argue that the crux of the internal conflict he experiences comes down to what he values more: his job or his life.

Tom gets a huge fright when the paper containing all his research flies out the window. Given how consumed he has become by his work—so much so that he's been neglecting his wife—it's not too surprising when he risks his life to climb out onto the window ledge to get it back. Everything changes, however, when the window slams shut and locks behind him.

Being a resourceful chap, Tom has the great idea of dropping things from his pockets to get the attention of people walking below. It doesn't immediately work, however, and soon he is left with only the paper to drop. This is where the internal conflict arises: Does he drop the paper and risk never retrieving it, or does he keep it with him and continue to risk his life by standing precariously on the window ledge and hoping that someone will notice? In the end, this internal conflict leads Tom to the realization that he has had his priorities all wrong.

What is the main internal conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

Tom's got himself into a real fix. Trapped on a high window ledge several stories above the ground, he's in serious danger of falling to his death. Under these trying circumstances, Tom is forced to deal with a particularly difficult internal conflict. On the one hand, he needs to keep cool and stay focused on not falling off the building. On the other hand, he also needs to maintain a sense of urgency about his situation. Being cool is one thing; but being blasé is quite another.

To make matters just that little more complicated, Tom's concerned with retrieving the paper that flew out of the window and which led him out onto the ledge in the first place. Tom's priorities in life are all wrong. He thinks the paper's essential to his chances of promotion at work, which is why he's taken such crazy chances to get it back. In turn, this has made it more difficult for him to deal with his internal conflict between staying cool and retaining a sense of urgency concerning the preservation of his life.

It is only when Tom finally realizes how unimportant his paper is in the overall scheme of things that he is able to resolve this conflict once and for all.

What is the main internal conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

The main internal conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is Tom Benecke's ongoing struggle to remain calm and rational in spite of his perilous situation. If he succumbs to irrational panic, as could easily happen to anyone in such extreme and totally unfamiliar danger, he is sure to lose his balance and go falling backward into empty space. His struggle to keep his nerve is all the more difficult after he is finally forced to look down and he sees the dizzying view of Manhattan from eleven stories up.

Then he knew that he would not faint, but he could not stop shaking nor open his eyes. He stood where he was, breathing deeply, trying to hold back the terror of the glimpse he had had of what lay below him; and he knew he had made a mistake in not making himself stare down at the street, getting used to it and accepting it, when he had first stepped out onto the ledge.

Tom Benecke's story is similar to that of Sanger Rainsford in Richard Edward Connell's story "The Most Dangerous Game," even though one story takes place in crowded Manhattan and the other on a tropical island. Both men know that they must rely on their brains and not succumb to panic. When Rainsford is being hunted by the sadistic General Zaroff, he tells himself:

"I will not lose my nerve. I will not."

The alternative to losing their nerve is either to succumb to irrational panic or else just to give up. The title of the story "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is designed to make the reader expect Tom Benecke to end up dead on the street far below. This makes his inner conflict seem all the more difficult. The reader senses that this is a story like Jack London's "To Build a Fire," in which the protagonist tries desperately to save himself but finally gives up the hopeless struggle and succumbs to death and oblivion. Even when Tom Benecke makes it back to the window of his apartment, the reader does not feel assured that there will not be a final ironic twist and Tom will never regain the warmth and comfort of his home or the arms of his loving wife. The reader's doubts about Tom's ability to save himself correspond to Tom's own doubts and fears, negative factors he must fight against with his reason if he is to have any chance of surviving.

What is the main internal conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

The main internal conflict of "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is Tom's desire to get ahead in his job at the grocery store. Tom is driven by a desire to "get to the top" at his job. This means that he is always trying to figure out ways to improve the store, usually on his own initiative. The story turns on one such project: Tom has spent months collecting data on customer behavior and hopes to use this research to prove that a new kind of display he has designed will generate more sales. However, he is less interested in the project itself than in what he hopes it will bring him— recognition from his boss, a way to stand out from the other men. In other words, Tom's concept of self is tied up with being successful at work. It is because he wants to become this "other" person that he decides to stay at home and work rather than take his wife to the movies.

This is why, when the paper that has all his research on it is blown out onto the ledge, Tom is compelled to go out after it. He is after more than just the paper: the paper represents that future self he so desperately wants to become. When he realizes, after he is out on the ledge, that there is nothing in that paper that says anything about him, Tom has a change of heart. He understands that it is his love for his wife that fulfills him, not the countless hours spent working in the hopes of getting a promotion.

What is the main problem in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

The main problem in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is simply that the protagonist wants to retrieve a sheet of paper that is of great value to him. In order to retrieve it he has to climb out of his apartment window on the eleventh floor and creep along a narrow ledge for a distance of about five yards, then pick up the paper and creep back along the ledge to his window. The problem is created by the protagonist's motivation. Motivation is the most important element in any story. Somebody has to want something and must try to get it. The motivation in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is simple and obvious because there is really only one character in the story.

Jack Finney devotes a fairly long paragraph to explaining why the sheet of paper that blew out the window is of such importance to his hero.

It was hard for him to understand that he actually had to abandon it--it was ridiculous--and he began to curse. 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.

Finney was a good fiction writer. He knew it was of the utmost importance to make the reader believe that Tom would do such a wild and crazy thing as to climb out of his window and creep along a narrow ledge eleven stories above the street. Some people can't even stand to look down from such a height. Even Tom doesn't want to look down or think about where he is at. He keeps the side of his face pressed against the brick wall until he gets to his yellow memo sheet. But then he finds he has to look down in order to get his fingers on it. He also has to bend his knees, which is extremely awkward while standing on such a narrow ledge. Most of his body is extended out over empty space. And the sight of the lighted city far below makes him dizzy.

...a violent instantaneous explosion of absolute terror roared through him.

The title of the story contributes to making the reader believe that Tom is going to die by falling backwards and screaming with terror until he squashes against the pavement eleven floors below.

"Contents of the Dead Man's" pocket may be described as a "slick" story--that is, one that is written for publication in a magazine with slick pages as opposed to cheap pulp paper. It was published in two of the foremost slick magazines, Good Housekeeping and Collier's, in 1956. Unlike most slick, commercial stories, it has survived because it illustrates important truths about human nature. A man risks his life to satisfy his ambition. His experience makes him realize that a simple, modest life and a warm relationship with a loved one are more important than the most grandiose success. Tom Benecke, standing on a narrow ledge high above the streets of cold, indifferent city, symbolizes the futility of human aspirations.

What is an example of external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

In Jack Finney's story "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," there is certainly an external conflict between the protagonist, Tom Benecke, and his surroundings, or "nature.  This type of conflict is called external because it occurs between the character and an outside force; this particular kind of conflict is commonly known as man versus nature.

In "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," Tom struggles to make back into his apartment after finding himself in a very dangerous and precarious position on the ledge outside his window.  When attempting to retrieve an important work document, Tom steps onto the ledge outside his window and follows the paper far enough to put himself in considerable peril.

What is the external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

Tom's external conflict takes up most of the story. Essentially, the problem is that an important document is blown out the window by a draft and he has to climb out on a ledge eleven stories above the street in order to retrieve it. The document is "a creased yellow sheet covered with his own handwriting."

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....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.

The author, Jack Finney, takes pains to show the importance of that one sheet of yellow paper. Finney also takes pains to describe Tom's reluctance to risk his life by climbing out on a narrow ledge and inch his way over to the place where his precious memo has gotten stopped by a projecting blank wall and held there by the breeze. Finney specifies that the paper is only five yards from Tom's window.

Finney devotes five full paragraphs to describiing how Tom finally talks himself into taking the risk of climbing out his window onto the ledge.

To simply go out and get his paper was an easy task--he could be back here with it in less than two minutes....The ledge, he saw, measuring it with his eye, was about as wide as the length of his shoe, and perfectly flat. And every fifth row of brick in the face of the building, he remembered. was indented half an inch, enough for the tips of his fingers, enough to maintain his balance easily.

The worst part of Tom's problem is the awful height. He knows it could be fatal for him to look down at the street because he could be overcome by vertigo and fall off backwards with a scream. He keeps his face pressed against the brick wall of the building as he shuffles along the ledge and finally reaches the yellow paper. But then he is forced to look down in order to get his hand on it. And at this point he is horrified by the insane situation he has placed himself in. The sight makes him lose his nerve. His legs turn rubbery.

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.

A city like Manhattan can be a terrifying spectacle from many points of view. It can make an individual feel tiny, insignificant, lost, overwhelmed. The description of Manhattan from a ledge eleven stories above the street is the high point of the story. The mention of the fact that the miles of traffic signals were "all green now" is a nice touch. In a minute or less those traffic signals will all turn red and the change have a disorienting effect on the lone man clinging to the side of the building.

Tom knows he can't stay where he is at because his legs will give way and he will fall to his death. At the same time, he can't make it back to the window of his apartment because he is paralyzed with fear. He tries lighting matches to signal neighbors for help--but no one notices his plight in this cold, indifferent city.

What is the external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

The major conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is between pursuing one's ambitions to get ahead in life and enjoying life in the moment. As the story opens, Tom has been sacrificing current pleasure for future gain. He has been spending evenings and weekends working on a project he hopes will get him to the top of the corporate ladder at work.

The story is a critique of the 1950s "rat race" and the materialism that set in after the end of the Great Depression and World War II. Tom is a symbol of that mindset, a well-meaning and earnest young man who puts material success ahead of all else.

More specifically, the tale focuses on the epiphany or flash of realization Tom has when it occurs to him, while standing on the ledge eleven stories above a New York City street, that he really might die at that moment. He understands that, should he fall to his death in the street below, his life will have been meaningless, wasted on work. This leads to Tom's revelation and regret of risking his life all for a page of research data and a potential promotion.

When he is able to reenter his apartment, Tom has a new view of life. In the conflict between deferred gratification and enjoying the moment, Tom has realized he needs to appreciate and spend time on more meaningful and fulfilling activities, such as going to the movies with his wife.

What is an external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," and how is it resolved?

First, let's define an external conflict and resolution, then you can probably identify them in this story yourself. An external conflict (conflict: battle of one sort or another) is one that exists between a character (principally the protagonist) and some idea, action, event, person or circumstance that is not part of him- or herself. Here are some examples. If my kitty is playing ambush with my ankles, that is an external conflict. If my business partner is embezzling money, that is an external conflict. If I am trying to save my family from an onrushing tsunami, that is an external conflict. By way of contrast, if I am trying to get the courage to confess to my business partner that I am embezzling money, that is an internal conflict: to tell or not to tell.

Let's apply this to the story and see what the external conflict is. Tom has an all-important yellow sheet of paper. He sees all his ambitions and hopes tied up in what is written on that sheet of paper:

He thought wonderingly of his fierce ambition and ... of the hours he'd spent by himself, filling the yellow sheet that had brought him out here.

The yellow sheet of paper is external to himself. This yellow paper flies out the open window of an upper story New York apartment building and is blown along the ledge in the cold until it catches on a corner ornament. Tom feels compelled to go out on the ledge, face and chest pressed against the cold brick, to retrieve it (this decision, by the way, comes out of an internal conflict):

And he knew he was going out there in the darkness, after the yellow sheet fifteen feet beyond his reach.

Once he is in the external night air, away from the safety of his apartment, he battles the external cold, ledge, brick wall, danger of a misstep, all the parts of his external conflict that are battling against his quest to retrieve his yellow sheet of paper.

This is Tom's external conflict: Tom is battling nature and battling his physical limitations against a raging nature (as raging as it can get on a quiet winter night in downtown New York). Tom must overcome the conflict of impossible, worsening odds and elements at great heights to (1) get the yellow paper, (2) get safely back to the window and (3) get safely back in through the window to his apartment.

You have but to read the end of the story to see how this conflict is resolved, brought to a conclusion, an ending. The interior of the story details in great minutia the agonizing step-by-step journey Tom takes through the external conflict in the eight minutes it takes to go "fifteen feet" and back again to return to where he started. The external conflict is resolved when Tom succeeds in punching his fist through the closed glass window, removing the glass shards and crawling into the safety of his living room. Tom has triumphed in battling external conflict.

Note that internal conflicts may not be resolved at this point, but the external conflict is resolved. Also note that the warm hall gust of wind and the yellow paper invite Tom to a second external conflict, but Tom wisely ironically and derisively laughs it off and goes to find Clare.

What is the external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" by Jack Finney?

The external conflict looks relatively simple and one-sided at first. All Tom Benecke has to do is to walk a very short distance along a narrow ledge, pick up a single sheet of paper, and then walk back to his open apartment window and climb through. But the external conflict becomes more complicated during his little adventure. The story is somewhat similar to Jack London's well-known "To Build a Fire," although the settings are entirely different. In London's story the man only has to walk from point A to point B through a snow-covered landscape. Point B is a cabin where there will be a roaring fire and food and companionship. The external conflict gets more complicated, however. The protagonist falls through a snow covering into icy water and he must build a fire to keep from freezing to death. But he builds the fire in the wrong place and it gets extinguished by snow falling off the tree branches. Then his hands freeze and he can't light his matches. The external conflict becomes a matter of life-and-death, and he loses.

Tom Benecke's external conflict grows more ominous when he realizes that the ledge is not as wide as he thought it would be.

He moved on the balls of his feet, heels lifted slightly; the ledge was not quite as wide as he'd expected. But leaning slightly inward toward the face of the building and pressed against it, he could feel his balance firm and secure...

The reader (who is out there with Tom in his imagination) can understand how such an unnatural position could become more and more of a strain, especially on the leg muscles, until they became torture. Tom might not feel the strain at first, but it would become more and more painful the longer he stayed out there in the cold. It is also very awkward for him to have to keep his face pressed against a brick wall.

Tom knows that his greatest danger is in losing his nerve. This might be said to be true in any external conflict. If we lose our nerve we will probably lose the conflict--whatever it might be. But he reasons that he won't lose his nerve as long as he doesn't allow himself to think about his situation and as long as he doesn't look down.We know this makes good sense. Don't look down!!! When he reaches that precious piece of paper, however, he finds that in his awkward position with his face pressed against the bricks he can't get his fingers on the paper without looking down at least for an instant.

At the same instant he saw, between his legs and far below, Lexington Avenue stretched out for miles ahead.

Jack Finney's description of Tom's vision of nighttime Manhattan from eleven stories up is brilliant.

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.

The rest of the story is much more of an internal conflict. Tom Benecke has become thoroughly unnerved by the feeling that he is like a fly clinging to a wall. He feels certain that he is going to succumb to vertigo and fall eleven floors to his death. He can't force himself to move his feet on that narrow ledge. To make matters worse, he inadvertently closes the old-fashioned double-pane window when he does finally manage to get to it and can't get it open again. (This would be part of the external conflict, wouldn't it?)

The fact that this story includes both a strong external conflict and a strong internal conflict is what makes it so gripping. Jack London's protagonist only had an external conflict, but he was a simpler type of man. Tom Benecke is a smart, urbane, articulate, imaginative sort of man, and that makes his problem much more acute.

What is the external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" by Jack Finney?

There is actually more than one external conflict in this story. The primary external conflict Tom faces is the battle for his life on the ledge. He battles the external factors of cold, "eleven stories" of height, the "half-inch indentation in the bricks" that are his finger-grips, the ledge "as wide as the length of his shoe," and the dark night as he tries to attain his quest to retrieve the yellow sheet of paper and save his life.

External conflicts are battles against anything that is not the character him- or herself. So a battle against wind, snow, stampedes, a cat, a butterfly, a death-ray, would all be external conflicts, as would climbing a mountain, beating a foe (perhaps in Narnia ...), crossing a desert, chasing a convict, stopping a war-game playing computer before it blows up the world. These are all types of external conflicts.

A second external conflict Tom battles is against the yellow sheet of paper: he must reach, capture and safely return that all-important yellow piece of paper that he poured so much of himself into.

On four long Saturday afternoons he had stood in supermarkets counting the people ... trade publications [were] gone over page by page in snatched half-hours at work ... he had carried it with him to the Public Library [and] spent a dozen lunch hours and early evenings ....

A tertiary (i.e., third) external conflict is against the apartment door and the overly heated building hallway ("'Hot in here,' he muttered to himself."). This is the external conflict that begins his troubles. The in-rushing breeze of the hall's warm air into the apartment's cool air, which intensifies in force as Tom narrows the open space by closing the door against this forceful hall wind, is the culprit that tosses white papers to the floor and the yellow paper to the open window. Ironically, and as a final dramatization of Finney's thematic point, when Tom leaves the apartment to go find Clare at Loew's theater at the end, the hall wind invites Tom into another battle as it lifts the yellow paper from under the ineffectual pencil and tosses it through the window.

A minor but critical fourth external conflict is with the living room window. First, Tom has to open it because of the hall heat penetrating the apartment walls making it hot inside. Second, he has to overcome the window because it is old and opens only after much exertion; Clare can never open it and has to call for Tom. This small external conflict allows for the plot to develop.

What incident with the paper starts the conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

The inciting incident of the plot of "Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets" occurs with the loss of the yellow worksheet on which Tom Benecke has been working in an effort to create a new grocery store display method.

This yellow sheet contains the work of long hours of research: fact, figures, and quotations--everything that he wants to use to make his proposal. Tom hopes to complete this proposal on the evening that he sends his wife to the movies without him. Then, he can re-examine what he has written over the weekend and submit it on Monday morning.

But, when he gets up to kiss his wife and hug her, telling her to enjoy herself, a draft is created that draws the yellow sheet out the window onto the eleventh floor ledge. It is with utter disbelief that Tom tries to comprehend what has actually happened. Hours and hours of work have floated out the window like a feather! Tom ponders all the consequences of the loss of this important sheet of yellow paper. For one thing, it could mean the difference of his name being only one of many on the payroll, or one that people in the company know.

And he knew he was going out there in the darkness, after the yellow sheet fifteen feet beyond his reach.

Tom goes to a closet and puts on a jacket; he knows that he needs to try to get to the paper quickly without thinking about it. But, things do not quite work out for Tom, who risks life and death for this yellow sheet.

In "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket," what incident starts the conflict?

Jack Finney includes both external and internal conflict in his short story “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets.”

The external conflict is initiated when Tom Benecke, the protagonist, watches as his slip of yellow paper fly out the window. The yellow paper contains work which consumed Tom’s spare time for months. He had a grand plan to achieve wealth and fame as he advanced his employment even if it meant short changing his relationship with his wife. The protagonist watches as the paper lands outside on the ledge of his eleventh story apartment building on Lexington Avenue in New York City. Tom’s efforts to retrieve the paper by balancing on the ledge overhanging the street create great physical challenges.  As he makes his way along the ledge, he faces a series of physical obstacles until the paper is retrieved and he is able to return to his apartment.

The internal conflict arises within Tom as he is balancing on that ledge and faces death. He realizes how skewed his view of life is. His obsession on advancing at work takes his focus off of his lovely wife whom he loves dearly.

Both the internal and external conflicts provide parallel themes in the story.  Tom is physically trying to save himself while balancing on the ledge while having a revelation about finding balance in one’s life.

What is the main external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket"?

The main external conflict in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" is involved in the problem of retrieving a sheet of yellow paper that has blown out the window. At first it seems like a relatively simple matter, even though the scene is set eleven floors above the street. The paper is only about five yards from Tom Benecke's apartment window. The ledge is about as wide as the length of his shoe. The weather is clement, which explains why he opened the window in the first place. But when Tom gets out on the ledge and sidles a short distance towards the paper, he realizes that he has more logistical problems than he had anticipated. He can only proceed by facing the wall and holding onto the bricks with his fingertips. And when he does get to the precious paper, he finds that he can't bend over to pick it up without risking losing his balance and falling to his death.

Up to that point his internal problems have been relatively minor. He had decided that he would just not look down. That way the height would not be a serious factor. But when he is finally forced to look down in order to pick up the yellow sheet of paper, he gets a full, horrible view of Manhattan at night from eleven stories up.

...he lowered his right shoulder and his fingers had the paper by a corner, pulling it loose. At the same instant he saw, between his legs and far below, Lexington Avenue stretched out for miles ahead.

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. 

After this the story changes from an external conflict to an internal conflict. Tom has to start moving back towards his apartment window in spite of his nearly overpowering terror and the sense of vertigo which seems to be pulling him backward off the narrow ledge and out into empty space.