The Child by Tiger
The young boy awakens to the sound of the fire bell ringing at the city hall; the menace of the noise allows him to know that the alarm was not that of a fire, but something much more grave (Wolfe 702). The source behind the panic and dismay of the ringing bells all starts with a single man. Dick Prosser encounters multiple struggles within the story “The Child by Tiger”. He is faced against many different individuals, himself, and the society in which he is living as a whole. No matter how calm someone may seem on the outside, there can be something very dark and ominous within them that can be liberated at any moment.
There are a handful of contrasting individuals that Dick Prosser clashes with throughout the story. Dick has a confrontation with Harris which then leads to Harris’s demise. Afterward it is all a downward spiral for Dick. The warfare continues with Sam Willis, John Grady, an innocent bystander, and John Chapman. Prosser had distinct problems with each individual and it leads to each and every person being executed. The problems start with an argument and continue due to Dick not wanting to face his actions and be punished for the crimes he commits.…show more content… As the reader is trying to figure out why Prosser has such cruel intentions, the story leads to believing that there must be internal emotions within Dick Prosser possessing him to go out and massacre several people. The emotional struggles could be relating to his army days and he could be suffering from certain mental problems from being in war. It may be the way he is being treated as an African American man during the time period he is in as well. Either reason is a plausible explanation for making a holy and religious man commit such hateful actions against others. The story helps set up these probable rationalizations in order to give Dick, as a character, more understanding and