Essay on "Child by Tiger by Thomas Wolfe"

Essay 3 pages (1124 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Child by Tiger" by Thomas Wolfe and "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell

A comparison

Premise/Thesis

Statement of points

"the Child by Tiger"

"The Most Dangerous Game"

The two short stories that will be analyzed in the following essay are one of the most significant works for the two authors in which they focus on human behavior, its evolution and roots of good and evil.

Premise/Thesis

Although set in totally different settings, the two books share this common denominator and are excellent readings for better understanding of why some men rely more on their instinct and less on their reason. A number of similarities can be found between the main character of Wolfe's story and General Zaroff from Connell's story and in what regards some parts of the plot, yet differences are significant in what regards the structure and construction of the plays, the narrative typology and also the role they aim to play for the reader.

B. Summary

The essay will start with a short summary of each story in which the most important sections will be discussed, followed by an analysis of similarities and differences between the two.

II. Body

A. "The Child by Tiger"

"The Child by Tiger" by Thomas Wolfe is a short story that looks at the life of a black person, Dick Prosser in a world of mixed racial feelings and behaviors. Dick's behavior in society is remarkable, as he has developed a large number of skills that help him find a better role in a racially driven world. The story is told by a person named Spangler who recounts the events that happened twenty-five years before in the South of the U.S. The storyteller, who interacted with Dick Prosser and admired him, tells a story without giving too much explanation for the facts. One day, Dick starts killing people without a clear reason or focus, from police officer to fellow blacks. He is later on killed with more than three hundred shots by a raging mob of white, despite the pleas of the mayor and other people. Arguably, the reasons that were behind his violent actions lie in the constant discrimination he faced and the lack of hope that this would go away and that he would be accepted as a normal citizen, and not a sub-human ghetto one. One could say that the racist pressures that society inflicted on him transformed Dick Prosser from the honest person he was into the exact image and stereotype that society saw him. The story is in itself a memory of Spangler that tries to better understand what and why happened twenty five years before and, therefore, the narrative style is sometimes discontinued and less chronological that Connell's story.

B. "The Most Dangerous Game"

In a more adventure like story, Connell offers the image of evil as well, but from another standpoint. A more calculated and rigorous evil, based not of reason but on emotions, is General Zaroff's view on the pleasures of hunting. The story starts when Sanger Rainsford, a famous hunter, fells into the waters of Brazil and is forced to find shelter on an island. He eventually finds a palace where he meets General Zaroff and his servant Ivan. After a pleasant dinner, Zaroff confesses that he has taken the liberty to hunt for more than animals, and has indulged himself in… READ MORE

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