Under The Lion Paw Analysis

Master of the Short Story In Under the Lion’s Paw, Hamlin Garland used lots of the elements necessary to develop the perfect short story as described by Kurt Vonnegut. First, the author gave the reader at least one person to root for; then, every character wants something; and finally, Hamlin Garland is not afraid to be sadistic so his reader can see what his characters are made of. Kurt Vonnegut believes that the author of a good short story needs to give his reader at least one person he or she can cheer for. Instantaneously in the title of this short story, Garland allows the reader to anticipate a victim and a predator, to expect a balance of power between the weak and the strong, therefore to root for at least one character. In Under the Lion’s Paw, the novelist presents Stephen Council, hard working aged man of the land, with a beautiful mind and heart, willing to share: “ I don 't make it a practice t ' turn anybuddy way hungry, not on sech nights as this. (…) We ain 't got much, but sech as it is”, and his wife who, just like him, is ready to feed the hungry “set right up to the table an ' take a good swig o tea whilst I make y ' s 'm toast” and console the poor and needy. The reader wants the Councils to be right in their beliefs in the goodness of the human soul, and in their religion as the husband declares “When I see a man down, an ' things all on top

The author developed his narrative perfectly, ensuring it had most of the elements Kurt Vonnegut exposed as the secrets to write a short story. It includes characters the reader wants to support and cheer for; all of these characters desire, yearn for, or covet something; and of course, it exposes the world as a vicious place, where humans exploit humans, where it is necessary to fight, lose sometimes, but where winning and surviving can be achieved in spite of hopelessness and