Fortune -Joy Monica T. Sakaguchi Fortune is a short story written by Joy Monica T. Sakaguchi. The story is told by a guy who is a pickpocket and he has been pickpocketing since he was 5. It was his dad who introduced him to those atrocities, and kept doing it after his dad left town. His dad taught him that you should not keep the wallets he was supposed to empty it for money and leave it somewhere so the owner could get his ID cards and that back.

The narrator tells us that it was Sunday and he was wandering around in the city, after he ate at a Chinese restaurant where they were very generous with the fortune cookies, which he loves very much. In the street he saw a kid who followed his dad with a bulging wallet very quietly. The kid caught the narrator’s eyes because he felt something familiar about him. He followed them around and when he got an opportunity he took the bulging wallet an hour later he returned to the market so he could leave the wallet behind. Then he saw the kid again standing in front of a liquor shop.

The narrators ask him if he wants to come with him and the kid said yes. He explains him selves that it was out of his territory to kidnap, but he thinks that it must be nice to be found again. He took the kid with him home where he showed him his big collection of fortunes. The sad up half the night reading them the kid loved them, so the narrator decided to give him all the fortunes because he deserved it. He wants him to have long life like one of the fortunes says. He tells the kid that he is tremendous over and over and then he started to cry and tugged the kid into him.

Next morning he walked the kid home and threw out the wallet in a dustbin instead of somewhere it could be found. The man didn’t need his creditcards because: “He didn’t know what a fortune he had anyway. ”1 The narrator is a pickpocket, he is probably around the twenties, he doesn’t live at home anymore2. He has crooked teeth, oily hair, and bony knees. 3He was raised by his mother who did a very good job the narrator thinks himself. “My ma tried to raise me well. I have to give her credit for trying to make me an honest boy”4 But by his father he was raised very bad.

His father taught him how to steel wallets. Every time he stole a wallet he handed in all the money to his dad, and he his dad gave him a little. The narrator never counted the money, because he didn’t want to know how much his dad thought he was worth, he kept all his money in a cardboard box. When his dad shows up again he will give him all the money and he will get some bills that he will stow away again. He probably doesn’t use the money because he knows that it is wrong and a bad lifestyle but he stills respect and loves his dad.

We also sees in the en that he can identify himself with the little kid who is not happy and he wants him to go have a happy life, not the life the narrator has. The short story is told by the main character. It is written in a spoken language the writer uses names like pop (for father) and ma (for mother). Another example could be: “Sunday was usually the only day I don’t work. ”5 And many other grammar errors like that is shown. The title symbolizes a lot. The big symbolize is the fortune cookies that is pretty obvious. The deeper symbolize is the fortune he has in the money he gets from pickpocketing.

A fortune which the narrator has hidden away and he will probably never take it away. He says that he will bring it to his father when he comes back, but he will probably never come back. The deepest symbolism is the fortune in the kid’s life that the narrator sees but the kid does not see himself. That is also the main theme in the story – the fortune in young life. The narrator has realized that he can’t save his own life, but when he sees the quiet and sad kid in the street he felt something familiar about it. His instinct was too safe the kid from the life he has had himself, that’s why he impulsive asks him to come with him.