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A Cap For Steve Short Story

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Lack of money in a household can create conflicts in the family. In the short story “A cap for Steve”, by Morley Callaghan, the relationship between a father and son is put to test with the use of money. The twenty dollars that are being offered to Dave is what causes the relationship between him and his son to become more distant. Dave prioritizes and cares about money over his son’s interest of baseball. In “A cap for Steve”, the power of money creates a struggle in the relationship of Dave and Steve.
The pride of getting money can have antagonistic relationships with family members. It leads to Dave making wrong decisions related to the cap, which has negative effects on his relationship with Steve. Dave is portrayed as a person who “knows …show more content…

When they go to meet the Hudson family, Dave gets pressured by them to sell the ball cap, which makes Steve witness the true power of money. Steve believes in his dad to get the cap back, but eventually his dad fails to do so. When they are going to meet the Hudson boy’s father, Dave knows “that Steve relied on him” (Callaghan 172) to bring his cap back. Dave tells Steve that no one is putting pressure on them, but as time passes money is being used to pressure Dave to sell the cap; and finally Dave sells the cap, which makes Steve realize that people with money can buy anything they want. Steve realizes that if someone has money they can buy anything. After the lawyer buys the cap, Steve understands that “it was just something he could buy” (Callaghan 177). He loses his innocence and matures by knowing what money can really do, and he also realizes that money can take away things from people. Michael J. Larsen believes that money can empower poverty. In the article, she says “honest poverty is no match for money and class” (Larsen 1). The Hudson family have a higher class and more power than the Diamond family, and this class and money is used to take the cap away from the poor Diamond family. By the end of the short story Steve understands that rich people can buy anything they

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