The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Tom’s grandmother dies eight days later, amid complaints about being in the hospital. Tom meets with his grandmother’s lawyer, Sims, as he worries about the rapidly accumulating small debts that he must pay. Tom discovers that Sims knew his father; they were classmates at college and fought alongside one another during World War I. After revealing that Tom will inherit very little, Sims talks about Tom’s father, claiming that he was “possibly the most charming, talented man ever born” (52). During the war, Sims says, Tom’s father had a mental health crisis. After the war, he became an investment banker at a prestigious firm but suffered from his mental health condition. While taking time off to recover, Tom’s father took over his mother’s family estate and squandered much of the family fortune. The estate was finally taken from him on the night he died. Sims cannot confirm whether Tom’s father actually died by suicide in the car crash. Tom’s grandmother never wanted him to know the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. The men share a drink as Tom arranges for a loan against his future inheritance, admitting to the lawyer that he is “broke.”