Child by Tiger

The short story, “The Child by Tiger” by Thomas Wolfe, shows the relationship between the Shepperton’s Negro Man, Dick Prosser, and the children. Dick was a reliable man who had recently been discharged from the Army; he could cook, he could tend the furnace, he could drive a car, and he could certainly shoot. The boys looked up to him for advice on many things from how to hold a football to how to make a fire. There seemed to be nothing Dick Prosser could not do. Until one afternoon, the boys were playing in the basement and happened to peak into Dick’s room and gawked at a rifle in the corner and Dick steaming over their shoulders. He assured the boys that the gun was a Christmas present but they were still left with an unsettling feeling that was proven to be true. The town was awoken from the cries of a siren alerting them about a madman loose in the streets. Word soon reached back to the Shepperton’s that it was their Negro Man barreling through town with his rifle already having killed six people who stood in his way. A mob set out for the man who was once prided throughout the town. Dick fled towards the river traveling on foot as far as he could go. The mob eventually caught up to him firing bullets through his bloody and beaten body, then strung him by his neck and drug his lifeless body back to town for all to see. All in the town soon went about their business again, but the boys finally ventured into the Negro Man’s room laid down his bible and closed his door