The central conflict in the Truman Capote short story "A Jug of Silver" is between Mr. Marshall, the narrator's uncle, and a man named Rufus McPherson. Mr. Marshall owns the small town of Valhalla's only drugstore, which Capote describes as a well-kept but rather old-fashioned soda fountain, and McPherson opens up a new drugstore across the town square from Marshall's store. McPherson installs many modern conveniences, including electric fans, and promptly steals the majority of...
The central conflict in the Truman Capote short story "A Jug of Silver" is between Mr. Marshall, the narrator's uncle, and a man named Rufus McPherson. Mr. Marshall owns the small town of Valhalla's only drugstore, which Capote describes as a well-kept but rather old-fashioned soda fountain, and McPherson opens up a new drugstore across the town square from Marshall's store. McPherson installs many modern conveniences, including electric fans, and promptly steals the majority of Marshall's business. The conflict between Marshall and McPherson also represents the age-old conflict between old and new, between progress and a fondness for the old ways.
In order to win his business back, Marshall creates a contest in which patrons are encouraged to guess how much money is contained in a jug filled with the coins (the "jug of silver" for which the story is named). A small, poor boy and his sister come to the drugstore every day, as the boy claims to be "counting" the coins. The boy believes he will be able to count the coins because, he claims, a witch once told him that he had special powers. Though counting the coins in the jug was clearly an impossible task, the boy guesses the amount of money exactly, just in time for the Christmas Eve reveal of the winner. This reveals a secondary conflict, apt for the Christmas season, between reason and a belief in magic or miracles.
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