"Time of Passage"

In the short story “Time of Passage,” James Falkman chooses to have the element of structure play a very important part of the story. He aptly names to the story “Time of Passage” instead of the often used phrase passage of time to display just how the structure of the story unfolds to the reader. After James Falkman’s wife passes away, his life and all of his material possessions begin to dissipate. He also seems to revert back almost into a child-like position towards the end of the story when loses his house and his previously lavish life and goes to live with his ailing parents. Falkman seems to be so bothered by his age and his coming death that all he can is prepare himself.
What the story does well is demonstrate the futility of James Falkman’s life. The story starts out with the scene of tombstones, symbolizing the imminent end of all men. The author also shows just how much of an impact the death of his wife had on Falkman by writing that he prefers not to social right after she is buried. Each paragraph almost represents the dissent that Falkman takes toward his eventual demise. Even when he recovers from his depression and starts making drastic adjustment in his job and social life, that all fades as he gets older. Thus, the “Time of Passage” shows just how a prominent man can fall from grace and how everything that is worked so hard for is lost over time.