Two Fishermen
Brittany Jewell Brittany Jewell Two Fishermen 1. a) Michael Foster – “a tall, long-legged, eager young fellow” Michael is a newspaper reporter for the town newspaper, the Examiner. He becomes fishing buddies with K. Smith (Smitty), but doesn’t associate with him in front of other people. b) Mr. Ted Bagley – Mr. Bagley is a spatulate-fingered man who owns Bagley’s hotel. c) K. Smith (nicknamed Smitty) – “A mild, harmless-looking little guy” Smitty is a lightly-built man with greying hair; described as polite and unthreatening by Mr. Bagley.
He is employed as a hangman and the townspeople hate him for it. He has a wife and five children, and becomes friends with Michael while fishing with him. d) Thomas Delaney – A man charged and hanged to death for the murder of Matthew Rhineheart. He had caught the man molesting his wife, and there was a violent struggle between the two men and he killed Rhineheart. e) Matthew Rhineheart – Thomas Delaney’s wife had been out berry picking when she was molested by Matthew Rhineheart. The old man, Rhineheart, was killed by Delaney after giving him a bad beating. ) Henry Steadman – “a squat, heavy man” Henry is the town sheriff; a stout man with a long mustache. 2. The reporter, Michael, has a pre-conceived idea that the hangman shouldn’t be such a small, frail-looking man. He is almost unbelieving that such a meek, polite person could hang criminals for a living. 3. Sympathy is raised for the accused person by adding a description of what happened leading up to the death of the victim. The murder is portrayed as a crime of passion, or perhaps self-defense. 4.
The townspeople strongly oppose the execution, and show this clearly, as “the crowd had thrown sticks and bottles and small stones at the out-of-town workmen in the jail yard”. They also crowd Smitty, harassing him, and pelting him with stones after the hanging. 5. The law officials stand by the hanging sentence, but do not seem to agree with it. One of the jail guards, Willie Matthews, is sickened by it, and the sheriff hangs his head mournfully. 6. * Mild * Polite * Shyly * Enthusiastic * Quizzical * Nice “charming ease of a small boy who finds himself free” * “extra-ordinary gift for story-telling” 7. The author makes the hangman seem so human by describing his emotional responses and expressions, and by describing his friendship with Michael. I believe he does this in order to show the side of a hanging that is rarely seen; and to show that a hangman is a person with thoughts and feelings like any other person. 8. The hangman is nervous about his job, and this is shown when Michael brings up the subject of his work, “he became furtive and disappointed”.
He also hesitates before replying to Michael. 9. The friendship between Michael and Smitty is shown by Smitty drinking with Michael while they are fishing, indicating that he enjoys Michael’s company. They toast to each other and laugh while telling stories, and had a good time though they didn’t catch any fish that night. 10. The reporter betrays his apparent friendship with Smitty by not going to stick up for him when he is being cornered by a crowd of angry people. 11. Michael acts as he does because he is afraid for himself and what will happen if he does stand beside Smitty.
He is ashamed of their friendship and afraid of ostracism and the wrath of the townspeople should he defend Smitty. The reader is prepared for his actions because Michael does not know Smitty very well, and most people would not risk their own safety for a stranger. 12. The two fish are significant in the story because they symbolize the friendship between Smitty and Michael. Smitty gave Michael half of his day’s catch because he believes they are friends. When the angry James Mortimer took Michael’s fish and threw them at Smitty, it symbolized a betrayal of their friendship because Smitty thought Michael threw the fish at him.
