"The Child By Tiger" is a story about a black man, Dick Prosser. Dick was the Shepperton's "man" as they called him. He always knew how to do everything, from boxing to football. The children in the neighborhood found him to be a friend and a mentor who taught them more than just skills, he taught them about life. On a cold winter night Dick went to Pansy Harris' house, another servant within the town. Pansy's husband arrived at home and a fight broke out and Dick shot Pansy's husband. When police arrived on the scene Dick shot them promptly and began running through the town. Dick continued to shoot people that tried to stop him, until the posse of men from the town surrounded him. Dick dropped his weapon and was shot 330 times and

then brought into town to put on display.

Wolfe tells this story of obviously adult content through the perspective of a child. Wolfe does this to illustrate the theme, it shows the innocence and the evil within the mind and heart of a child. In the beginning of the story we see the admiration that the narrator holds for Dick, "He knew about football too, and today he paused, a powerful, respectable- looking Negro man . . .and watched us play"(Perrine, 25). A reader can see the excitement and enthusiasm that only a child can hold for his role model in this quotation. Using this child's perspective the reader finds it easy to believe the narrator in most everything he says. The narrator is pure in his thoughts; after all he is a child. The mind of a child can be easily affected by the thoughts of others, which is shown in the way the children act once Dick is killed. They immediately develop a hate for the man they once considered great and wonderful, "We saw it[Dick's dead body] and tried wretchedly to make ourselves believe that once this thing had spoken to us gently, had been partner to our confidence, object of our affection and respect . . .and we were sick with nausea and fear"(Perrine, 37). Through this quotation one can see how the narrator's thoughts changed within an instant because of one event. This sudden change of heart is amplified by the fact that it is a child holding these thoughts. Through life one learns to judge a situation using all the facts, but a child's mind is not capable of that. The perspective of a child leads back to the theme, there is both good and evil in everything that is perceived. Even a child cannot escape the evil of the world and yet that child is innocent.

sometimes like a cat. Looking before us, sometimes, seeing nothing

the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for though art

The setting of the story seems relatively unimportant, but certain elements give great meaning to the story. At one point in the story there is said to be, " a smell of smoke . . . burning in the air" (Perrine 24). This smoke can represent how the town covered up it's flaws, like a blanket of smoke. It can also signify how the perceptions of Dick were masked like the air was masked. The boys could smell the smoke, but thought nothing of it. The boys held a suspicion for Dick, like in the instance where they saw the rifle, but never thought anything of it. On the night that the killings happened it snowed, "Snow fell that night . . . by seven o'clock the air was blind with sweeping snow, the earth was carpeted, the streets were numb" (Perrine, 29). This quotation is very symbolic to the story, it can allude to the way in which the town reacted. The town was blind to the evil that Dick

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Approximate Word count = 1864
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)