Fresh Bait: The Cat And The Crow

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n the two short stories “Fresh Bait” by Sheryl Clark and “The cat and the crow” by James Moloney death is explored through out the stories in similar yet different ways. They bring up points about violent deaths of a sibling, survivor guilt and the way both resolve the theme of death.

Violent death is explored through each story, in fresh bait it is expressed through the murdered sister Melanie. The story of Melanie was strung along by the alive sister. Whilst questioning the then unknown killer the sister reveals Melanie’s state of death she was found in “Melanie’s grey face with the bruises around her neck and the dried blood in her hair jumped up to haunt me yet again.” This is implied that Melanie was choked and battered too death. The …show more content…

Fresh baits story ends with the alive sister getting out of the car all flustered and still angry about her sister. She is determined too find the killer as a form of justice for her sister Melanie, “my fingers ached to pull out the steel pipe and smash his brains in. Melanie was my sister. I’d find her killer if it was the last thing I did.” We the reader is still unsure if the driver is the killer as he has been the right description except he didn’t have any problems with his fingers. It isn’t until the last line in the book the reader finds the driver was the killer ‘The lights from the highway sign glowed just bright enough for me to be able to peel the business card off my sweating palm, turn it over and read it. “Blazer’s Meat Products,’ it said. ‘Joseph Fingher, Sales representative.” The book does not state if she goes too the police but she most likely would’ve gone too the police as a form of justice for the sister as it was hinted earlier in the book that she was trying too do what the police couldn’t do. In the Cat and the Crow the ending ends with David finally shooting Stephan. I believe the Crow is a symbol of his guilt and that David shooting the Crow is a symbol of David letting go of his guilt. The boy’s separate personalities become one. David lets go of his always nice, people pleasing personality and becomes more like Stephen “Have you no conscience,