In Times of Suppression
Since the beginning of time people have been treated unfairly, but in the end the ones who are discriminated against end up gaining what they want. Like when colored people were discriminated against in the United States of America, Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equal rights and eventually won. In the short stories “The Most Dangerous Game “by Richard Connel and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, both the characters Rainsford and the old man are treated as if they were animals by those who have power over them, but in the end they become free.
Rainsford and the old man are given the level of respect and treatment of which many would give to an animal. For example, when the old man is being observed by all in the village even, “the cripples pulled out feathers to touch their defective parts with, and even the most merciful threw stones at him” (Marquez 221). One is able to infer that he is given no respect since his feathers are being plucked out, as one would kill a deer to hang its head on one’s wall or taking a tooth from a shark to wear it as a necklace. This quote shows that even the most caring and generous people are disregarding the fact that he is not animal. In the case of Rainsford, General Zaroff,” paused… shook his head... the general’s eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree… the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reached the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread over his brown face, very deliberately he blew a smoke ring into the air; then he turned his back on the tree and walked carelessly away” (Connel 231). That particular quote reveals that General Zaroff is toying with Rainsford. Zaroff is playing with Rainsford like a boy would do to snails and worms. Rainsford and the old man finally manage to break free of what was suppressing them. The old man finally starts trying to get away from the village by flying: “Some large stiff feathers began to grow on his wings… his first attempts at flight… he was on the point of knocking down the shed down with the ungainly flapping… but he did manage to gain altitude… pass over the last houses holding himself up” (Marquez 225). The old