How to Develop an Essay
Based on the story
A Cap for Steve
Observations
First simply write down any observations and questions you have while reading
the story. This is most effective if you read the story more than once. Consider
the following questions to guide your observations
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What does the story remind you of?
Make note of the elements of literature in the story.
- plot
- character
- point of view
- setting
- conflict
- style
- structure
- context
What questions do you have while you read?
What inferences do you make while you read?
A Cap for Steve
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Dave Diamond father of Steve, wife Anna
Dave works hard but doesn’t have a lot of money
“Steve had to be kept in school” p.1 Setting must be a few decades
ago. Today 12 year olds can’t be taken out of school to work for the
family.
Steve doesn’t know the value of money, but he loves baseball. Dave
doesn’t like this. Why not?
Steve feels guilty for loving baseball.
Why is Dave so unhappy with Steve knowing so much about baseball?
Dave seems smaller/lesser than the other adults in the story – Eddie
Condon and Mr. Hudson
The POV is very distant. We only know what Dave is thinking and
feeling but the description is very impersonal.
Dave is concerned with value. The value of money with Steve not
working. The value of time being “wasted” at the baseball game.
The value of the hat when Steve loses it and then its monetary
value when Hudson buys it. Why is he so consumed with this?
His life forces him to be. He can’t afford to waste time or money.
He certainly has no place for a silly cap.
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Why doe the rich kids “leave the park to the poor kids?” There is
something in this story about people with money not realizing the value
of play
“Dave knew the boy was apologizing to him, but he didn’t know
why it made him angry.” Is he angry because Steve is apologizing
for a hat that Dave never cared about and the whole thing is silly?
Or maybe he is angry at himself because his kid is apologizing to
him when he should be receiving comfort from the Dad. On some
level I think Dave knows his priorities are messed up. But, again,
it his social-economic situation that has created this relationship
with his kid. If he does know he is wrong on some level it makes
his change at the end more acceptable.
It’s ironic that Dave is proud of Steve being willing to fight for the cap
when Dave is not able to do that with Hudson.
Economics are the controlling factor in the story. The thing that
keeps Dave and Steve from just taking their cap back is that the
boy says “I bought it from a guy. I paid him. My father knows I
paid him.” Even though the cap is clearly Steve’s, the fact that
money changed hands keeps Steve from getting his cap back.
Again, money controls the lives of Dave and Steve.
Dave is physically small. Eddie Condon “towered” over him and the
Hudson boy was about the same size. He is a small man literally and
figuratively.
The Hudson boy knows how the system works. He tried to intimidate
Dave by “boldly” telling him that his dad is a lawyer.
“No one’s putting anything over on us.” But the first thing he concedes
to Hudson is that it is understandable that boys get excited over a cap.
The whole story Dave has not understood why Steve is so excited
about the cap.
“… supposing we called a policeman. You know what he’d say?
He’d ask you if you were willing to pay my boy what he paid for
the cap. That’s usually the way it works out.” Once again
economics are controlling Dave. Dave says “It’s not justice.”
Spoken like a true marxist.
Once Dave calls Hudson’s bluff and says he will pay the two
dollars Hudson uses his other tool and tries to buy it from Dave.
Money is used as a stick and a carrot. Dave is a puppet being
pushed and pulled by a system that keeps him just poor enough
to be desperate.
Steve - “No, you let him take it away from us,” Interesting choice
of words. It’s like Hudson stole it by using money.
Key Sentence “It’s unfair,’ Dave said angrily, only now he didn’t
mean that Steve was unfair, he meant that what had happened in
the prosperous Hudson home was unfair, and he didn’t know
quite why. He had been trapped, not just by Mr. Hudson, but by
his own life.” It’s the whole system that makes a man so
squeezed in his life that he can’t know what really is valued by his
own son.
“He wanted to get hold of Steve and pound him and didn’t know
why.” Is this similar to earlier when Dave is angry at Steve for
apologizing. What is making Dave so angry? Is it that his life has
forced him to hurt his son so deeply? Capitalism forces people
like Dave, who live on the margins, to chose money over their
own son. Capitalism make Dave angry at his son because his son
should know that that is how the system works. It is the same
reason why Dave is disgusted with Steve at the beginning, only
now the incident with the cap has put it in sharp relief. It is an
outside force that makes Dave angry at Steve, because if it was
internal he would know why he is angry.
As soon as Steve’s Mom hugs him Dave’s anger went away and he felt
“stupid.” Love defeats the system.
Steve’s love of baseball or his mom defeats the desperation that
Dave feels because Steve doesn’t know any better. He has not
had the system ground into his way of thinking like it has been
done to Dave. Dave can’t pull him self out of his misery. It takes a
12 year old boys refusal (or lack of awareness) to accept that it
has to be that way.
The choice of words at the end is interesting. Dave feels
“exalted.” Which mean to be lifted high. Steve’s generosity has
lifted Dave out of his desperation. And shown him what was right
in front of him all along. Dave’s mistake was that he thought
everything could be bought and sold. He realized that the truly
valuable things in life can’t be.
It is fitting that Steve not get the cap at the end because that
would be too materialistic which would defeat the point of the
story.
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Developing a Thesis
Read over your observations and try to notice patterns and points that
get repeated. What do you notice is significant? What bigger ideas are
working in the story and how does the writer express those ideas?
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A Cap for Steve
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Callaghan choses a POV that is 3rd person and limited to Dave.
Dave is certainly the focus of the story.
The story focuses entirely on Dave and his reactions to situations
he would rather not deal with.
Value and worth are Dave’s primary concerns. The value of time,
money, Steve, the cap, and himself. However, he bases all of their
values on external or monetary factors. His situation in life has
made him this way.
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This is a very socialist story. By focusing on one man, and one
simple object, Calaghan explores the inequities of society. The
problems of one man reveal to us the problems of all us who
lose sight of the priceless things in our life and how our
society influences us to lose sight of those things.
Steve’s love of baseball makes him unoppressable. Simple
play can not be made into a commodity. Maybe that is why the
rich kids leave the park for the poor kids.
Thesis #1
In the story A Cap for Steve, Morley Callaghan shows us how the true injustice in
our society is in what it does to a man on the inside.
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too general.
how does Callaghan do this?
What does it do on the inside?
Thesis #2
By focussing on the struggles of a simple man named Dave Diamond and a
simple cap, Morley Callaghan reveals how poverty can make a man so
concerned with getting more that he doesn’t notice what he’s already got.
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more specific
What is significant about the simplicity?
Missing the aspect of how Dave oppresses himself.
Thesis #3
By focussing on the struggles of a simple man named Dave Diamond and a
simple cap, Morley Callaghan reveals the complex way capitalism oppresses the
poor by having the poor oppress themselves.
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Too negative, loses sight of the positive end to the story.
At this point I got up and walked away for awhile
I’m back. I don’t think there is enough emphasis on how the theme
is expressed
Thesis #4
Through the character of Dave Diamond and his different transactions over a cap
for his son Steve, Morley Callaghan shows how poverty can erode the
relationship be a father and son and then how that same relationship can
overcome poverty.
The Outline
Thesis:
Through the character of Dave Diamond and his different transactions over a cap
for his son Steve, Morley Callaghan shows how poverty can erode the
relationship between a father and son and then how that same relationship can
overcome poverty.
Supporting idea #1
Dave’s attitude to life
- Valued money
- Valued time
- Wanted Steve to work
Supporting idea #2
Transaction for the cap with Eddie Condon.
- Dave’s resentment of Steve’s love of baseball
- Cap come from a pro ball player.
- Steve’s love of the cap bothered Dave
Supporting Idea #3
The transaction with the Hudson’s
- Boy payed for Hat
- Inferiority to Hudson
- Hudson buys and sells Dave
Supporting idea #4
The transaction with Steve
- Steve doesn’t want to be his Dad
- Dave realizes the injustice
- Gives his son what he has always wanted.
The Essay – First Draft
In the short story A Cap for Steve, Morley Callaghan writes about a boy and
his father and the strained relationship they have. However, Callaghan is doing
more than painting a Norman Rockwell portrait of a family. He is also exposing
one of the cruel effects of poverty. Poverty no only manifests outwardly in the
tight budgeting and old cloths of Dave Diamond, it also has caused internal
effects which distance Dave from his son. Through the character of Dave
Diamond and his different transactions over a cap for his son Steve, Morley
Callaghan shows how poverty can erode the relationship between a father and
son and then how that same relationship can overcome the strain of poverty.
Economics is at the centre of this story. In the very first paragraph we meet
Dave Diamond who is described as “a poor man… who had learned to make
every dollar count in his home.” At the same time we are introduced to his sick
wife Anna and his 12-year-old son Steve who “ought to have known the value of
money as well as Dave did.” (p. 1) The use of the phrase “ought to” establishes a
conflict between Dave and Steve. The harsh economic reality of Dave’s life
forces Dave to see his son’s love of baseball as disgusting. Poverty has put such
a tight squeeze on Dave’s life that he has no room to appreciate his son’s love
for the game of baseball. Dave is concerned with value, the value of money with
Steve not working, the value of time being “wasted” at the baseball game. His life
forces him to be consumed with these worries. He can’t afford to waste time or
money. He certainly has no place for baseball. When they are at the game, Steve
rattles off the batting average of every Phillie hitter. “The time the boy must have
wasted learning these averages began to appal (Dave). He showed it so plainly
that Steve felt guilty again and was silent.” (p. 2) The value of money has been
ground into Steve as well, but instead of keeping him from loving baseball and
learning all those statistics, he learns to feel guilty for having his childhood
dreams, and to hide them in front of his Dad. Poverty chills a moment that should
be filled with the warmth between a father and son.
It is after Steve loses his cap that oppressiveness of poverty shows itself. The
true power of poverty and capitalism is in its ability to force the poor man to
oppress himself. When Dave and Steve confront the boy who has the cap,
The thing that keeps Dave and Steve from just taking their cap back is that the
boy says “I bought it from a guy. I paid him. My father knows I paid him.” (p.6)
Even though the cap is clearly Steve’s, the fact that money changed hands
keeps Steve from getting his cap back. Again, money controls the lives of Dave
and Steve. Money has precedent over justice.
When Dave and Steve go to the Hudson’s home, there is a small moment
that demonstrates the power money has over the poor man. Dave enters the
house and “…tried not to hang back and show he was impressed…When they
hot into the small elevator Dave didn’t know why he took off his hat.” (p. 7)
Money controls Dave from the inside. He knows that in his society Hudson is too
be respected. The only basis for that is Hudson’s obvious wealth. Dave put
himself beneath the man before he even meets him.
When he does meet Hudson, the entire transaction is based around money.
Hudson pegs Dave as a poor man who can’t afford to buy the cap back. “…
supposing we called a policeman. You know what he’d say? He’d ask you if you
were willing to pay my boy what he paid for the cap. That’s usually the way it
works out.” (p. 8) Once again economics is controlling Dave. Dave says “It’s not
justice.” That one line is an indictment of all of capitalism. The capitalist doesn’t
care about justice. The fact that the hat is clearly Steve’s is irrelevant once a
price is placed on the hat. Dave agrees to this system and agrees to pay the two
dollars. Once Dave calls Hudson’s bluff and says he will pay the two dollars
Hudson uses his other tool and tries to buy it from Dave. Money is used as a
stick and a carrot. Dave is a puppet being pushed and pulled by a system that
keeps him just poor enough to be desperate.
In the end, it is inevitable that Dave takes the money. He hasn’t seen the
value of the cap to Steve since the beginning of the story. However, it is the
Steve and his love for the cap that will cause Dave to have an epiphany about his
life. Steve understands what happened in the house. He says to his father: “You
let him take it away from us.” It is an interesting choice of words. Steve realizes
that Hudson stole the cap by using money. Poverty then cause its deepest
wound. Steve turns to his father and says: “I don’t want to be like you.” (p. 10)
The capitalist system that Dave has worked so hard to participate in has finally
eaten up his son’ respect. This shakes Dave to the core and he has his
epiphany.
“It’s unfair,’ Dave said angrily, only now he didn’t mean that
Steve was unfair, he meant that what had happened in the
prosperous Hudson home was unfair, and he didn’t know quite
why. He had been trapped, not just by Mr. Hudson, but by his
own life.” (p. 10)
Dave realizes that he has been blind to what is valuable. His whole world
collapses when he realizes that his own life has pushed him into only thinking
about what was valuable to him and not seeing what was valuable to his son.
Dave is furious without knowing why. “He wanted to get hold of Steve and pound
him and didn’t know why.” (p. 11) Dave is angry because his life has forced him
to hurt his son so deeply. Capitalism forces people like Dave, who live on the
margins, to chose money over their own son. He directs his anger at Steve
because it is Steve’s simple honesty that has exposed the cancer in Dave’s life.
In the end it is fitting that Steve not get the cap. That would be too
materialistic for a story that is so anti-capitalist. Rather Steve gets what the cap
represented: his father’s love. However, more important than what Steve
receives is what Dave receives. Dave gets back his fatherhood. He gets all that
being a father means beyond just being a provider. His son’s simple generosity
has shown Dave all those things in his life that can’t be bought or sold. Those
things that make him truly rich. “The wonderful generosity of childhood – the
price the boy was willing to pay to be able to count on his father’s admiration and
approval – made him feel humble, the strangely exalted.” (p. 12) The choice of
words at the end is interesting. Callaghan uses the language of capitalism, “the
price,” to illustrate how Capitalism is defeated. Dave feels “exalted.” Which
means to be lifted high. Steve’s generosity has lifted Dave out of his desperation
and shown him what was right in front of him all along. Throughout the story
Dave is concerned about the value of things, but it is his son’s simple love that
gives Dave his self-worth.