The Cat And The Crow Comparison

In the two short stories, Fresh Bait, by Sherryl Clark and The Cat and The Crow, by James Malony, death is explored in similar, yet different ways. Both stories explore young people dealing with difficult situations, and deaths of family members. Murderers were also explored, in very different ways, and the act of avenging a death.

Both short stories investigate survivor’s guilt, with both protagonists dealing with these difficult emotions and situations. Both David and the protagonist in Fresh Bait both have siblings that have died but both protagonists have survived. David has a “guilt that hounded him”, whereas the Fresh Bait protagonist isn’t as direct with her guilt. She goes out of her way to find her sister’s killer, with evidence

The murderer in Fresh Bait is less obvious, but hints towards what he did. He was “trying to be friendly” in the start, but becomes more overt when the conversation about Melanie arises. “He needed more convincing” that the protagonist wasn’t “trying to set (him) up for it. There was an “odd little note in his voice” when he spoke about the murder, and was “definitely a possibility” in the protagonist’s quest to find the killer. The protagonist knew exactly who this man was, yet still questioned his answers, like “how did he know?”. The police “had never caught him” yet he was “matching up on all the key points”. His words had double meanings and he was smart, asking her if she was “nervous about hitching on her own” and mentioning that he “saw a lot of people on this highway.” He obviously wanted this girl to feel afraid, but didn’t have the intention of killing her, almost as though he was bragging about his ‘achievement’. David wasn’t a murderer, but he was still the reason his brother died. David was “no more able to fight off his brother than he had been able to pull the trigger to kill that bird just a week or two before” so he obviously didn’t intend to hurt his brother. Stefan was “cunning and heartless” and had set out to kill his brother. David “could not find it within himself to act similarly”, so the roles of the two brothers were set quite clearly. When it came to