Motivation In The Tiger's Heart By Jim Kjelgaard

A motivation is a reason someone has for doing something a certain way. The Tiger’s Heart is a story written by Jim Kjelgaard in which the protagonist, Pepe Garcia has been making decisions based on forces within him. These forces all contributed in their own ways for Pepe’s decision making and outcomes in the story. These forces have helped define what Pepe is as a human being within the story. The forces motivating Pepe are security, fear and courage, greed and exploitation, and power. These forces motivated Pepe.
Security is what drove Pepe to make decisions in the story. It was said by the people of the village that “when darkness came, the jungle was alive with strange and horrible things” (Kjelgaard 54). Knowing this Pepe saved up money and bought a rifle so that he can have a feeling of safety and security. Pepe fought a tiger because he thought that he was secure enough to fight one with a gun. His sense of security helped him sleep peacefully unlike the other villagers, and “he did not awaken until the sun was up” (Kjelgaard 55). His behavior and decisions are being motivated because the jungle is dangerous at night without the right

protection. The need for security made Pepe think the jungle was safer to go into and it also changed what Pepe did in life.
On the other hand, fear and courage were also major contributors for what is driving Pepe.

Courage is defined as strength in the face of pain. Pepe with his gun at hand showed to be very courageous against the darkness of the jungle. Agreeing to fight a tiger was a courageous act because in the village “none would work were tigers were known to be” (Kjelgaard 57). Fear was also present because killing a tiger that “was bursting with raw anger” was no easy task (Kjelgaard 58). The two motivations intertwined because fear made Pepe hesitant to attack the tiger, but courage is strength in the face of suffering so he had to have faith in the task at hand. Pepe had the courage to fight against that opponent, but against overwhelming odds fear is really a scary thing. Fear and courage were why he fought the tiger the way he

did.
The need for greed and exploitation are key motivators in what Pepe’s actions and decisions are. Pepe seemed to be a nice person during much of the story, but that changed when he used Juan Aria’s vulnerability in his favour. One of Juan’s goats was killed and taken by a wild tiger so Juan had to ask the man with the gun to kill the tiger before the tiger could come back for more. Pepe saw that Juan was in a weakened state of mind so he tried to bargain with Juan to get something in return for killing the tiger. Killing the tiger was dangerous so a reward was understandable, but instead of small token of gratitude Pepe forced Juan to cough up “two goats and one kid” (Kjelgaard 57). The need for wealth and greed blinded Pepe because he had exploited his neighbor for something that would benefit him. Greed and exploitation are evil motivators that help only people who try to live in a capitalistic world.
In a capitalistic world people also try to gain power and that is another influence for Pepe in this story. The rifle that Pepe had bought with his hard-earned money had earned him a high reputation in his village. If he has the gun beside him, “he was king” (Kjelgaard 54). The man with the rifle did not need to fear the jungle because the rifle gave him power. Pepe had also committed acts just so that he could keep the power that a man with a gun was supposed to hold. What pepe did was kill a tiger not with a gun, but a machete. He then shoots the tiger with a bullet to make it look as if the tiger was shot with a bullet and not slashed with a machete. He does this to keep power because “In his village, the man who owned the rifle must remain supreme” (Kjelgaard 60).
These forces have all influenced Pepe in the story. The four main forces in the story were security, fear and courage, greed and exploitation, and power. The forces have clearly helped define what type of person Pepe is. These motivations have all contributed to Pepe’s decision making in their own ways. Pepe Garcia is a man who is making choices in his life based on forces within him. Motivation is a reason someone may have for doing something a certain way.