English 102 Fiction Essay

Fiction Essay

Thesis Statement: In the short stories "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell and "The Child by Tiger" by Thomas Wolfe, a hidden evil side of human nature is revealed through both the characters Dick Prosser and General Zaroff; however, the unleashing of this evil is trig-gered by two very different influences.

I. When the reader is introduced to Dick Prosser in "The Child by Tiger" and to General Zaroff in "The most Dangerous Game", they both are portrayed as nice, admired, and strong men. They both initially portray the good in mankind.

A.Dick Prosser is a faithful worker of the Shepperton's family who is almost a role model to the young Randy Shepperton and all of his friends. He is a religious man and regu-larly reads the bible and mediates on it.

B. When attacked by a white man, he does not even fight back. He allows his eyes to become bloodshot red but does not retaliate.

C. General Zaroff is the answer to Sanger Rainsford's prayers when he finds him on the deserted island and offers to take care of him.

II. Although both characters are initially portraying the good in mankind, throughout both stories they both slowly begin to portray the evil in mankind.

A. Prosser is described as a cat, sneaking up on the Shepperton family when they least expect it. He begins to alarm the family because of his sneaky habits.

B. Randy Shepperton notices a misplaced gun in Prosser's basement room, which he be-comes really defensive and nervous when asked about it.

C. Prosser goes on a killing rampage with that very gun found in his basement room, and his once calm and admired persona changes to barbarian and feared.

D. General Zaroff is viewed as a relief to Rainsford, until he also begins to raise red flags to the reader.

E. Zaroff tells Rainsford he hunts men, and challenges him to be the hunted. Once viewed as friend, he is now viewed as the enemy.

III. Both men juxtapose the good and evil side of human nature, however; their motives behind unleashing the evil side are different.

A. Prosser has been suppressed by racism for years, and he comes to a point where he cannot take it any longer and snaps.

B. His reason for unleashing the evil side of him was unintentional, and was fought back for many years. However, when it was unleashed, it was lethal.

C. Zaroff's evil side is unleashed because of selfish motives. He gets "bored" with the perfection of his hunting game and is looking for a thrill.

D. He finds no other way to get this thrill then to do something inhuman and evil like hunting other less fortunate people.

IV. Both men become the "hunted" after unleashing their evil sides.

A.The whole town hunts Prosser after his rampage.

B.He is shot over 300 times and killed.

C. Zaroff is hunted by Rainsford at his own request, but finds himself losing at his own game for the first time and dying at the end of the story.

Sarah Craig

Spring Zuidema

English 102-D24

8 April, 2012

Fiction Essay

Human nature is the way humans act, feel, and think naturally. It is the way humans act on instinct without being conditioned. There is a much admired and talked about good side of human nature, that humans attribute all positive actions to. However, there is also a suppressed bad or evil side to human nature. In the short stories "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell and "The Child by Tiger" by Thomas Wolfe, a hidden evil side of human nature is re-vealed through both