The Unexpected Killers in The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell and “The Child By Tiger” by Thomas Wolfe

“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “The Child By Tiger” by Thomas Wolfe are two short stories that have completely different plots, but have many similarities that relate them. Both stories deal with unexpected killers and have a twist that surprises the audience. These pieces make use of foreshadowing and address discrimination, but the characterizations of the protagonists are very different and they affect the readers in distinctive ways.

First, Thomas Wolfe and Richard Connell use foreshadowing in their stories to give the audience a glimpse of what is to come. Foreshadowing is a literary technique that subtly reveals events that are going to occur later in the story. In “The Child By Tiger,” Wolfe uses many signs to show the audience that the main character, Dick Prosser, had underlying anger towards the other character. When Prosser was beat up by a drunken white man, the narrator of the story described the immense anger in his eyes. Also, at the beginning of the short story, it is made clear to the audience that Prosser is good as everything, including shooting a gun. The narrator says, “There was nothing that he did not know. They were all so proud of him” (Wolfe 156). His extensive knowledge of these skills foreshadow that he is going to use these skills later in the story. These are both example of foreshadowing in “The Child By Tiger”. In “"”, Richard Connell also uses foreshadowing to hint at the terrifying event that was about to occur. At the beginning of the story, the main character Rainsford is having a conversation about how fun hunting is for the hunter and not for the hunted. When discussing hunting with his friend Whitney, he refers to it as the best sport in the world. Whitney comes back by say...

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... occur later in the story. Also, they both deal with the issue if discrimination. Although it is more prominent in “The Child By Tiger,” the prejudices against race are mentioned in these stories and impact the actions of the characters. On the other hand, the characterizations of the characters are very different. Prosser and Rainsford are developed differently and that impact the audiences view of them. When analyzing these stories in order to compare and contrast them, many points stuck out and made the stories more interesting. “The Child by Tiger” and “The Most Dangerous Game” are extremely well written short stories that both relate and differ in countless ways.

Works Cited

Connell, Richard Edward. The Most Dangerous Game. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 1990. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.

Wolfe, Thomas. The Child By Tiger. Indianapolis: n.p., 1996. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.