Preview

Quotes From 'Two Fishermen' By Michael Foster

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
682 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Quotes From 'Two Fishermen' By Michael Foster
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
…show more content…
The old man, Rhineheart, was killed by Delaney after giving him a bad beating.
f) 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.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The main interest of the work is in a character, Matt, whose son has just been murdered, and his conflict with the concept of revenge. Throughout the story Matt makes frequent mentions to his family that he wants to and should kill his son’s murderer but is just as frequently disturbed and uncertain at this notion. Matt is never described to the reader as a violent or murderous person. The story even mentions that he was a caring and concerned father by stating that “He had always been a fearful father: when his children were young, at the start of the summer he thought of them drowning in a pond or the sea, and he was relieved when he would come home in the evenings and they were there” (92). Matt is angry with himself because he feels he should have been able to protect his son, but was not able to, and “he lost Frank in a way no father expected to lose his son, and he felt that all the fears he had borne while they were growing up, and all the grief he had been afraid of, had backed up like a huge wave and struck him on the beach and swept him out to sea.” (94). Frank, Matt’s son, was also previously beaten by Richard Strout, the man who would later murder him for “making it” with Richard’s wife. Frank’s battery was described as “Before ten o’ clock one night Frank came home; he had driven to the hospital first and he walked into the living room with stitches over his right eye and both lips bright and swollen” (91). Matt has such a burden put on him with the death of his son, and the magnitude of that event causes him not being able to think about “any of the small pleasures he had earned, as he had earned what was now…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    7. When the press entered the scene, an immigrant or insane person was blamed for the murders, because those people were considered to be social deviants at the time.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When he moves West, Chantry has accompanying him what he calls his lot, which includes Bob Sandy, Solomon Telly, Davy Shanagan, Degory Kemble, and Isaac Heath, who are all very loyal and brave friends. No real specific character traits are given about these men, other than they are very brave.…

    • 1696 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through the use of imagery, Capote paints a picture of the gallows that seems dark and gloomy, yet odd and peculiar. With its “ugly harness of leather straps” and its “two pale nooses attached to a crossbeam”, Capote creates an imposing image of the gallows, a place reminiscent of death and misery. However, he includes peculiar details making the reader picture the hangman as “reminiscent of a turkey buzzard huffing, then smoothing its neck feathers” wearing an old green cowboy hat “a weathered, sweat-stained oddity.” Perry’s corpse is described as a “dwarfish boy-man” with “his small booted” feet barely able to reach the floor. One thinks of the odd description to be a little humorous that such a child-sized man could commit four murders in cold blood. The illumination of these somewhat bizarre details, however, does not mask the darkness of the execution setting. It illuminates the darkness, contrasting ordinary details against the deaths of Perry and Dick making them feel more tragic and visible to the reader. Capote appeals to the audience with visual imagery to again, sympathize with the deaths of Perry and Dick. Would Capote’s purpose for the book be different if he had not formed a connection with these…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    b. “He didn’t like to go into the garage, because the work bench was stained where the body had been lying, so he moved uncomfortably around the office-he knew every object in it before morning-and from time to time sat down beside Wilson trying to keep him more quiet. “ (157)…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    a. Now imagine, during the 1930's, that you were part of the trial of Tom Robinson vs.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Two Fishermen

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Michael didn’t want to be seen with Smitty because Smitty is a hangman. Every hangman is hated because people think that he is cruel and because he kills prisoners who are friends or parents with people in the town. If Michael is seen to be friend with Smitty, he would have a bad reputation and people of his town would hate him because he is supporting someone that all the others hated. It won’t only affect his life, but also his work, because no one will collaborate with him anymore and he could never become a reporter for city paper as he always wished.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    -Turner was hung, his body mutilated and divided up amongst the crowd watching the hanging.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    12 Angry Men - 1

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prejudice is seen as one crucial issue in constituting a verdict for the jury, as two of the jurors are biased against the suspect of the murder. Language and characterisation of the jurors is crucial techniques in which Reginald uses to convey the bitterness of one of the jurors, Juror #10. In the play, he states “Look, you know how these people lie! It's born in them!” halfway through the play, displaying his racial prejudice towards the suspect of murder; generalising slum people as those who “…you cannot trust”. The use of characterisation and speech, allows the audience to recognise the prejudice in the jury some that is justifiable. Tension is also another dramatic technique used to convey the Juror #3 bias against the boy because of his own relationship with his son who “…didn’t know how to fight”. This technique shows the conflicts between him and Juror #8; every time Juror #8 brings up an argument, Juror #3 always rebuts with biased statements, bringing the tension up. However, this tension is always brought down by some a change in stage direction. Shown in ACT II, Juror #2 “moves to the window” after arguing with Juror #8; allowing the play’s audience to perceive Juror #8 as someone who is not biased against the murder suspect, displaying him as someone who was doing the right thing.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Gentleman of the jury, be merciful. For God’s sake, be merciful. He is innocent of all charges brought against him. But let us say he was not. Let us say for a moment he was not. What justice would there be to take this life? Justice gentleman? Why I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this”. (Chap. 1, pg. 8) My analysis of this story weighs on multiple dynamics:…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    And why shouldn't he be enthusiastic? He's a hangman and not too many people seem to have befriended him. All the while Michael's only doing this because he's a reporter and he wants to pump Smitty for information. Again we see Michael describe him as being a "nice little guy." So even though on the outside Smitty appears as a hangman and is hated by society because his job is so cruel, on the inside he is actually a real nice guy who doesn't actually even really like his job he just accepts that that's his job and he has to do it. As the story progresses Michael begins to see this and has a great evening fishing with Smitty. The author clearly shows us that Smitty is very happy and is very eager to see Michael again the following morning for some more fishing. So eager that he doesn't realize Michael doesn't want to be seen with him. But when Michael does avoid him he feels ashamed of himself because he alone…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conflict In The Crucible

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages

    him being hung. The theme is about a concern for respect and reputation can lead to a person…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Federal Prison System

    • 2164 Words
    • 9 Pages

    An execution that year included two prisoners who were taken out amidst a crowd of spectators,…

    • 2164 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell orchestrates his essay, “A Hanging”, with the intent to evoke a feeling of animosity from readers towards capital punishment. His detached point of view, depicting the animal like treatment the prisoners endure, yet never revealing the reason for their captivity, allows readers to focus on the justice of the punishment instead of the abomination of the crime.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Two Fisherman

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When Michael is first introduced he is described as a "tall, long-legged, eager young fellow, who wanted to go to the city some day and work on an important newspaper" (Callaghan 1). This statement gives some insight to the nature of Michael's intentions, and how he will act later in the story. Someone eager to climb the corporate ladder and achieve greater status will probably not stand up to the majority. They will most likely attempt to tread lightly and not step on anyone's toes. This may help them to achieve their goal of getting a better job, but they may not be seen by the majority as an individual, but more as a rung on the corporate ladder; someone that will not defend their position or ideals. Michael is also described as being not "at all sure of himself" (Callaghan 1). If Michael is not that sure of himself, the chances of him voicing his opinion are slim to none. This is a good position for Michael to be in if he wants to fly under the radar and live an inconspicuous life.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays