Sherwood Anderson's short story "The Egg" depicts three primary themes: ambition, failure, and happiness. However, they are inextricably related to the symbolic image of the egg and are grouped together under the umbrella of the American Dream. The story, which is taken from Anderson's book The Triumph of the Egg, is narrated in the first person by an undisclosed narrator who is reflecting on a moment in his life when he was ten years old, and the reader learns that Anderson is addressing the issue of ambition throughout the story.