Child By Tiger Analyzation

Character:

The main character would be Dick Prosser. He would be considered a rounded character because he does not take on the role of the classic house servant in the South. While being religious, he also is very talented in many aspects, such as shooting and sports. Docile but violent He would also be considered dynamic because he is a traditional religious man in the beginning of the story, and then he turns into a radical religious murderer, killing people on the basis to start the Judgment Day. He is important to the story because he move the plot along, while also representing evil within man. The three boys in the story would be stock characters who remain static throughout the story, because they are naturally curious. This is shown when they go into Dick’s room to find the rifle. They are static because they didn’t change through the story. They are important to the story because they help narrate the story and help explain the meaning similarities between the Tyger poem and Dick.

Point of View:

This story is told in the POV of first-person narrative, Spangler, 25 years ago. By telling this story in first-person, the reader experiences the fear each character feels when Dick is on his murdering rampage through town. It also shows the reader how fast news can spread through a small village, and how the village can react to such news. This also helps show the reader that while humans may try to stop evil, we create more evil doing so. This is shown by the mob that is created in the town. If the story weren’t in first person, the reader wouldn’t understand the anger as well.

Symbols:

The worn out Bible would be a symbol of Dick’s religion and how devout he is to it. To prove this, we see it repeated whenever any other character goes into Dick’s room. There is emphasis placed on it at the end of the story, where the last section Dick read is opened. Its position is also relevant because it is alone on Dick’s table, and it is the only thing that allows anyone to recognize that room as Dick’s room. Dick Prosser himself is a symbol of evil within man. He is repeated as a main character within the story, as well as, constantly referenced as being the tiger within the poem. For example, he is described as having paws, his eyes turn red when he is angry, and he stalks just like a shadow. Emphasis is placed on him because he is the character doing most of the evil doing and is the most suspicious throughout the story.

Irony:

There is situational irony within the story, because the reader is introduced to Dick as being a devout religious man. His room is clean, organized, and simplistic. There is a large plot twist when Dick ends up being a murderer who is later shot so many times; his body is barely a body anymore. The reader is caught off guard because Wolfe paints Dick as a saintly man who is very friendly (the Lamb), and then he ends up becoming so inadvertently evil, he murders the first person he sees.

Theme Statement:

When a god-fearing skillful individual encounters a white society that oppresses him in a situation which it dramatically alters the individual into an evil person, the result may be punishment or tragedy.