A Phoney in The Fifty Dollar Bill :: The Fifty Dollar Bill

A Phoney in The Fifty Dollar Bill  Ã‚        Ã‚  In "The Fifty Dollar Bill" written by Donald Hall, the narrator of the story seems to be an honest man, but is he really? I believe for the most part he is very honest—except for when he did not want to be drafted so he bribed his congressman. He had several reasons for wanting to be exempt from the draft. He was always honest, until he realized he had something important that could be lost. The very beginning of the story starts with the narrator talking to us (the readers) about how honest he is. He tells about how he is well respected both in his profession and in the community where respect "is not accorded easily" (Hall 957). He is saying since he is a lawyer, respect is hard to earn. He tells us all the things he has never done: "I have never asked the judge who is my best friend to fix a ticket for the son of my liquor dealer. I have never promised a favor to a detective in order to hide evidence unfavorable to my client" (957). He is making it a point for us to believe he is honest. When he talks about other lawyers, he says they "live on intimate terms with dishonesty" (957). This statement implies that he could not handle being dishonest, or that at least he does not "live on intimate terms" with dishonesty. However, the final statement of the first paragraph, "I call myself an honest man," does not really sound like he means what he is saying. He says, "I call myself an honest man," not "I am an honest man." If the narrator was so worried about being honest, what reasons could he have had to try to bribe the congressman? He had a lot to deal with when the rumors of the draft came around. The narrator was a third-year law student. He only had one more year to complete before he got his degree. His wife was pregnant and about to have their first child. Those two things were very important to him, and he could not take the chance of losing them. Not only this, but he feared his own death. He had a "repeated sequence in his mind’s eye" in which he kept seeing his own death. The dream not only took place while be was asleep, he also saw his death while he was awake.