PEOPLE AREN’T WHO YOU BELIEVE THEM TO BE
AN ESSAY OF COMPARISION “THE CHILD BY TIGER AND THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME RICHARD CONNELL AND THOMAS WOLFE AUTHORS

BRUCE ALLMAN ENGLISH COMPOSITION AND LITERATURE

When I read both these short stories , my initial thought was that these have
Little in common. Wolfe’s story “Child by Tiger ‘ takes place in the early 20th
Century , and so does Connell’s but the places where they are set are very different. Connell’s has an exotic locale and Wolfe’s in the backwoods of the United States
Of America. Both stories contain manhunts complete with motivations for the hunts could not be more opposite . In “The Most Dangerous
Game “ General Zaroff , the antagonist resorts to hunting humans for sport . He made this clear to the protagonist Rainsford when he said , “Hunting tigers ceased
To interest me some years ago.” I have exhausted their possibilities. “No thrill left in tigers , no real threat , no real danger I live for danger “! “ He becomes an expert hunter and decides to hunt a more elevated quarry, one that can reason ..
Humans. Hungering for the excitement he lives for , he hunts and hunts until he is
Defeated. In Wolfe’s story the hunt is for a completely different reason , to stop
Dick Prosser from killing. I also found another common thread wound in both stories racism . In “The Most
Dangerous Game ‘ General Zaroff attempts to convince Rainsford to hunt with him
He says ‘I hunt the scum of the earth ,sailors form tramp ships ,Lascars ( Indian
Sailors), Blacks, Chinese, Whites. Mongrels, a thoroughbred’s horse or a good
Hound is worth more than a score of them. “He justifies the use of hunting them by their race or occupation to devalue their lives.. Equating their lives to be worth
Less than a good horse... or a dog. The racism in “the Child by Tiger ‘is not quite so simple, the word “nigger” is all through the story . It’s use along with the word
Negro is used to separate black people from white. One thing to note within the story , its only after Dick Prosser begins his rampage that the use of the term “nigger “ is bantered about as if it were a term of endearment. This singles out Dick Prosser for his actions, not his race as the contributing factor for him to be Hunted. In both stories the impression that I am left with is people aren’t always who we
Think they are! The stories introduce both antagonists in a favorable manor. In the opening lines of “Child by Tiger’ Prosser is idolized by the young boys in the story
. The protagonist Mister Shepperton says “ Its seemed to us boys there was little That Dick Prosser could not do.’ “ He could shoot, he taught us to box , to play
Football. “He spent time with them , and they liked him for it. The same is true
In Connell’s