Two Fisherman Morley Callaghan Analysis

I feel as if the actions of Michael, from the story “Two Fisherman”by Morley Callaghan, are justified. Michael may not think of Smitty as a friend, but more of an acquaintance, also he does not want to compromise his dream of becoming a big news reporter, finally he feels pressured by the people and thus leading him to betray his friend. We have seen multiple times that Michael feels no positive or negative affection towards the hangman. Morley Callaghan deliberately shows us the contrast of the hangman and Michael in the story and how each of them approaches their relationship. During their fishing trip, Michael does not say anything about how he feels however Smitty constantly mentions it. A good example of this is when Smitty says, as they
We the readers are left to infer whether they are friends or it is just Smitty thinking that they are friends. The very first thing mentioned in the story, even before Michael’s name, is his job. Michael dreams of becoming a first class city news reporter. We see this, also, in the first sentence, it said, “Michael Foster, a tall, long-legged, eager, young eager fellow, who wanted to go to the city some day and work on an important newspaper.” (Callaghan, 300). If Michael had shown the townspeople that he is friends with the hangman then no one would want to collaborate with him. If no one would want to collaborate with him it would be much harder for him to achieve his dream. Michael should be allowed to put his needs before someone else’s if he wants too and for that, we cannot judge him. When Michael tried to back away slowly he ran into James Mortimer and was stopped in his tracks. The man tells Michael to throw the fish at the hangman, but Michael would not do it. Michael said, “Nothing. I got nothing against him.” (Callaghan, 306). This shows us that even though he is betraying him in a way, he still won’t do harm to the