In the short story "The Quiet Man" by Maurice Walsh there were two main characters. The two characters had very different characterization. Shawn Kelvin and Liam O"Grady are protagonist and antagonist in this story. They are separated by many contrasts in their characters.

             The physical characteristics of the two men are very different. Shawn Kelvin a young blithe lad in his twenties. Shawn is a little shorter than an averaged sized man is. He has a hunched down shoulder from boxing or from shielding his eyes from the glare of the flaming furnaces in Pittsburgh. He has very dark hair with deep-set blue eyes. Liam O"Grady is an oversized man, with sandy-haired man, with a lot of strength like an ox.

             Shawn Kelvin"s psychological qualities are different in a drastic way from O"Gradys. Shawn wanted and also was a peaceful man. Shawn had boxed a lot in the states and did not want to fight for he had had enough fighting. Shawn wanted to live in a peaceful place so he had bought a house and byre on Knockanore Hill, a place far from other homes. Shawn was a caring man who loved Ellen O"Grady sister of big Liam O"Grady. Shawn would talk to Ellen every night unlike Liam who made her be the housemaid. Later on they would also have their own baby together. After a time Ellen would go on at night knitting smaller and smaller things. Quiet would be one of Kelvin"s characteristics. Shawn had come back from the states no one knowing whether or not he had made his fortune or not for he was a quiet man. Shawn did not push to ask Liam for the dowry he was supposed to receive although Ellen forced him to ask. Liam O"Grady is a greedy man who"s god is money. Liam O"Grady forced out his own sister to try and marry Kathy Carey for her acres of land. Liam stalled to give Shawn the dowry. O"Grady is a cold hearted man with the heart the size of a sour apple. Liam had stolen the Kelvin family farm and had no sympathy to Shawn for the loss of his farm.