"I could have been a contender," he'll say, "I could have been a famous writer if I'd only wanted to. Ken did want to be a writer, of course, he just wasn't brave enough to go out and do it. At various points Ken had the opportunity to escape the advertising game and make it in the artistic arena he always desired. The most obvious example of this was when his short story was published in Atlantic Monthly - much to the annoyance of his competitive coworkers. The feeling is that ad-workers have always been repressed writers, and Ken Cosgrove embodies this. Unfortunately it seems most ad-workers, however talented just aren't brave enough to go out there and live the dream. You get the impression Ken will be reading his grandchildren his own bedtime stories after explaining to his kids why he had to give up a writing career to support the family. Not necessarily true, but whatever helps him sleep better. At least the eye-patch will lend him some gravitas.
