Character sketch
In the short story Two Fishermen, written by Marley Callaghan “K. Smith”, who is also known as Smitty is a character which, Michael Foster the protagonist is investigating him. Smitty’s job is a hangman, which may seem like his personality would be toxic, but it’s not. Smitty is a genuine person, he has 5 kids and a wife. His smile is so bright; he cares about everyone but his job portrays him as a bad person. Smitty spends his spare time with his kids, and fishing. Working all day is tiring and fishing is a good way for him to relax. He is an independent person, so he enjoys fishing by himself even when there are no fish caught. Michael Foster the protagonist of this short story, is writing a newspaper and needs something to write about; he wanted an interesting story so he chose the hangman. They both went fishing and although they didn’t catch any fish, “I promised my wife I’d bring her back some fish”. Smitty is a caring person that he was catching fish for his wife and not even for himself. Smitty has many features about himself, he knows how to kill of course, hunt and fish. Smitty believes in Capital Punishment hence why he is the hangman. Smitty wants to make new friends, so he decides to give Michael 2 fish after their first unsuccessful fishing trip. Michael takes the fish and gets stopped because Michael is “friends” with the hangman. Michael denies everything and continues running away; he eventually gets the fish snagged out of his hands, and gets thrown at Smitty. “The expression on Smitty’s face as he saw the fish on the road made Michael hot with shame and he tried to get out of the crowd”. Smitty was heartbroken so he felt nothing but hopelessness because he thought he made a friend that evening.