"The Egg" is a short story by American writer Sherwood Anderson. The story is told in the first person from the perspective of a child about his father's disillusion to rise in the world. The child's father used to live a self-sufficient and happy rural life. Under the pressure of his wife's urge to "rise in the world" after marriage, he experiences a series of failures to run a business. Through the father's failures and absurd behaviors, the story shows that the American dream symbolized by the egg is illusory and impractical, reduced to monetary pursuit. Anderson satirizes the American people's fanatical quest for fortune in an unscrupulous manner in the early 20th century.