Expecting to be inducted into the army, Joseph has given up his job & carefully prepared for his departure to the battlefront. When a series of mix-ups delays his induction, he finds himself facing a year of idleness. ” Dangling Man” is his journal, a wonderful account of his restless wanderings through Chicago`s streets, his musings on the past, his psychological reaction to his inactivity while war rages around him, & his uneasy insights into the nature of freedom & choice.