Question

In 2–3 complete sentences, thoroughly explain the protagonist's main motivation or goal in your Module One short story? What does the protagonist want? Provide at least two specific details from the text to support your analysis of the protagonist's motivation or goal. the story is condensed milk.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

In the short story "Condensed Milk", by Varlam Shalamov, the main motivations for the protagonist's actions are hunger and revenge.

Having been taken as a prisoner to a Gulag, the protagonist is sick and starving. When he is offered an opportunity to escape, he says he will agree to the plan if he is given a can of condensed milk. At this point, hunger is the motivation he reveals:

Envy, like all our feelings, had been dulled and weakened by hunger.

I fell asleep and in my ragged hungry dreams saw Shestakov’s can of condensed milk, a monstrous can with a sky-blue label.

Once he receives a couple of cans and drink their contents, the protagonist backs off, saying he is not going to escape after all. At this point, his motivation is revenge:

It was, of course, a weak, worthless act of vengeance just like all my feelings.

He know the escape plan is a trap, so he deceives Shestakov by pretending to be a part of it only to get the condensed milk.

NOTE: I know the question asks for only 2 - 3 sentences, but I felt the need to offer some context. Feel free to edit this answer.