Hobbyist Short Story and Druggist Essay - 786 Words

Summary The short story, â€Å"The Hobbyist written by Frederic Brown is about a man named Sangstrom. Sangstrom was at a prescription pharmacy secretly talking to the Druggist about buying an undetectable poison to kill his wife. The Druggist asks to follow him into the back room and puts some coffee into the boiler. The Druggist informs Sangstrom that he feels that he deserves the poison for free but must pay for the antidote. This is when Sangstrom realizes that the Druggist had poisoned his coffee. Sangstrom panics and pulls out his gun and points it at the Druggist. The Druggist continues to explain that if Sangstrom hands over $1000 and writes a confession of the murder of his wife and the Druggist in case he did kill either one of them,,†¦show more content†¦Please help spread the word about my undetectable poison, will you? One never knows, Mr.Sangstrom. The life you save, if you have any enemies, just might be your own.† This proves how through blackmailing people he tries to save lives. The Druggist is brave because the text says, â€Å"Or if you think I’m bluffing, that you’re really not poisoned, go ahead and shoot.† This proves that he wasn’t scared of the gun. The Druggist is a careful man because the text says, â€Å"Whom do you want to kill and why?† This proves that he wants to know everything in the mind of the murdered before he gives anything to him. Sangstrom is the antagonist in the short story, â€Å"Hobbyist†, written by Frederic Brown. He is the person that opposes the Druggist. Sangstrom like the Druggist is also a mixture of both rounded and dynamic characters since he has many sided and complex personalities that you would expect of actual human beings but also has a personality that changes for the better and worse by the end of the story. For example, at the beginning of the story Sangstrom is reflected as a typical bad or villainous type person wanting to kill his wife. However right after the climax, just like a villainous character, his reaction to being blackmailed was pointing his gun at the Druggist. Sangstrom was forced into not killing his wife in the fear of getting caught by the police if the confession letter was mailed.