Wallet Micro-Fiction Analysis

Wallet by Allen Woodman

In Allen Woodman’s Micro-Fiction piece “Wallet,” Woodman used many of the features Andrew Stanton mentioned that create a good story in his TED Talks video. Two of the features that Woodman successfully used are his use of unexpected events and he leaves the audience wondering what happened at the end of the piece. Andrew Stanton believes that having unexpected events will keep the audience involved in the story and interested. Stanton believes that making the audience wonder is key in a good story as well.

Woodman’s “Wallet” is about an elderly father and his son going to the mall to trick a pickpocket into stealing the father’s phony wallet with no money or any items of value. At the beginning of the story Woodman attracts the reader by describing a strange action by the father, “He stuffs the phony wallet with expired food coupons and losing Florida Lottery tickets and a fortune cookie fortune…” The father is then quoted saying, “All oyster, no pearl.” This is when the father is planning to trick the pickpocket. The father and son head to the mall to attract another pickpocket and the son is described as the wheelman. This creates the wonder effect on the readers. Why would he need to be a wheelman in this situation.

The father draws the pickpocket in and allows him to steal his wallet. The sales clerk catches him and searches the wallet. This part is unexpected to both the audience and the father. The father, not knowing how to react to this, bolts for the door and runs to the car shouting “Drive fast, drive fast.” The question I have is, “What happened?” Why did he run?

This piece also developed wonder for me. I think part of the wonder came from the unexpected event but the author did indeed make me wonder what happened. After finishing this piece of micro-fiction, I had to ask myself, “Why did the father want to catch the pickpocket so badly?” The very first sentence, “Tired of losing his wallet to pickpockets…” infers that the father has lost his wallet many times. He chooses to go back to the mall where he lost the last wallet to a pickpocket. Why did he choose the last location and not one of the first few occasions. Did something happen the most recent time he lost his wallet that made him want revenge? Also, why was he in such a rush to get out of the store? Did the father commit a crime as well?