The Five Different Ways of Executing

Capital punishment is a way the government in many countries punishes people who commit severe crimes. Canada used to execute people in this way but no longer does. The history of corporate punishment in Canada started around 1749 when a man was arrested and sentenced to death for stabbing someone to death. A lot of documents of executions were lost in natural disasters. After confederation the spectrum of crimes leading to confederation narrowed to murder, rape and treason. In 1868 parliament decided it is best that people be executed privately instead of in public where everyone can watch. In 1950 attempts to end capital punishment started. In 1961 the crimes leading to execution narrowed even more; only the capital murder, meaning a planned murder during a violent crime or of a police officer, would lead to execution. In 1967 there was a 5 year hold on executions by the government and in 1973 they decided to permanently remove capital punishment from the country. Now, Canada is free of capital punishment and people who commit crimes are sent to jail for rehabilitation.

If the short story “Two Fishermen” was located in Canada, with my knowledge of capital punishments history, the year would be someone from 1749-1867. One of the first executions happened in 1749 and the last public one was 1867. Since Thomas Delaney was publicly hung, (insert quote) those years must be the range of time this story occurred.

In the short story “Two Fishermen” by Morley Callaghan, Thomas Delaney is sentenced to death. In my opinion Thomas does not deserve to be killed because all he is doing is defending his wife and himself. Mathew Rhinehart “molest[ed] [Delaney’s] wife” (p.1). Of course Thomas is angry when he sees that and has to help his wife when “there [is] a struggle… before he kills Rhinehart” (p.1). His crime is purely defence and instead of being hung he should be named a hero for helping his wife.