persuasive
Becca Dix In Spoon River Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters shatters the myths of small town life in America by his use of style and tone. Masters characterizes the Town Marshall and Jack McGuire by their Thoughts, similarities, and their point of views. The Towns' people thought of him as “ Grim,righteous,strong,courageous, and a hater of saloons and drinkers”(19) just because they thought of him as a terrible man for killing a swede while he was drunk, which derived his hatred for alcohol. A waste of money was all the Town Marshall could think of himself. The Town Marshall alludes to the judge who sentenced Jack to 14years when he says “ In A Dream,I appeared to one of the twelve jury men and told him the whole secret story.”(19) Jack McGuire, who was a black man thought that he was sure to be lynched after shooting Logan, the town marshall. After a plea bargain was made and his sentence lessened to fourteen years where he learned to read and write which most black men didn't usually get the opportunity to do. Jack McGuire was in a horrible situation that turned into something that he was grateful for. In the differences between killer and victim there are many, but in this situation there are more similarities then differences. Although one was in fact the victim and the other the killer, the ironic fact is that the victim was also a killer. Jack and the Town Marshall had both killed someone and were both drinkers either before or after the Prohibition. Each character's point of view has different outlooks on the situation. The town Marshall's attitude towards how he died is very detached and vague, saying “I struck Jack McGuire before he drew the gun with which he shot me” , he seemed very adamant about his death. On the other hand Jack was very thorough about the incident : “ And yet I was going peacefully home,carrying my jug,a little drunk,When Logan,the marshal, halted me,called me a drunken hound and shook me,and,when I cursed him for