Comparison and Contrast of "The Child by Tiger" and "The Lottery"
Thomas Wolfe wrote a short tale called The Child by Tiger in the 1930s. The black community was subjected to severe discrimination by white people during the time the tale is set, which was characterized by high levels of racism. The Lottery, on the other hand, is a short tale written by Shirley Jackson. (Jackson, 2016). The narrative primarily centers on describing a fictional American town where "the lottery" is a common yearly ritual. Thus, the paper's objective is to present a comparison and contrast of the two tales by taking into account the various themes that the writers emphasize.
Theme of Discrimination in "The Child by Tiger"
In The Child by Tiger, the story mainly focuses on highlighting the concept of racism, whereby there is discrimination of the members of the African-American community by the whites. The story focuses on Dick Prosser, who is a servant of the white Shepperton family and a veteran having been enlisted in the Army some years back. As a servant, Prosser is capable of performing many tasks that include cooking, cleaning, driving, shooting, and building a fire with excellent precision. The author describes Prosser as a rather humble and religious person living a perfect life. However, Prosser is victimized by the members of the town resulting in his enraging (Wolfe, 1987). The author portrays Prosser’s actions in a way that makes him appear as a man associated with darkness. The image that the author portrays about Prosser puts minimal effort towards recognizing the positive aspects of Prosser, but rather judges him from his actions. The ultimate cause of the craziness and attack launched by Prosser on the villagers is the discrimination that he faced at the hands of the whites.
Symbolic Representation of Discrimination in "The Lottery"
On the other hand, the author of The Lottery presents the theme of discrimination in a symbolic manner. The small town often engages in a ritual that entails the random selection of a member of the community and killing them. The moment an individual picks a marked paper, they lose their identities and are thus murdered by other members of the community. The death of Tessie is a representation of the extent of discrimination, whereby the society often subjects innocent individuals to unwarranted persecutions. The story represents the present day prejudices based on the various unique characteristics of people that include their race, religion, gender, family background, or sexual orientation that are mostly random. Some of the members of the society are often ‘marked’ based on their unique characteristics. Just as the members of the community blindly follow the tradition without questioning, they often persecute others without calling into question as well, hence explaining the evident extent of discrimination in the society.
Duality of Individuals in "The Child by Tiger" and "The Lottery"
The theme of The Child by Tiger entails highlighting human nature and facilitating understanding the capabilities of the individual for both good and evil. The author highlights the different aspects of Prosser, whereby he appears a seemingly religious person, hardworking and humble, while having a dark side at the same time. The story presents the positive features of Prosser’s life that includes his cat-like nature, agility, and speed. However, as the story proceeds, the author shifts to highlight the negative aspects of Prosser. The racial anger of Prosser plays a significant role in contributing to his enraging upon the members of the community (Wolfe, 1987). It results in Prosser going crazy and resorting to violent attacks on the villagers. The conclusion of the story contributes significantly to generalization by members of community to personality of Prosser. Through the narration, the author thus correctly presents duality of individuals, whereby they are both good and evil.
The Lottery as well shows some instances of people’s duality. It is apparent from the extent to which the ritual ensures randomness in selection of the individual to be killed. They have equal opportunity of choosing the slips with the person that picks the wrong one being persecuted instantly. The swiftness through which villagers turn on victims is questionable, as evident in the fact that Tessie loses her identity the moment she picks wrong slip (Jackson, 2016). Despite her innocence, the logic of the lottery makes the members of the community consider her marked, and therefore, she must die. As such, the extent, to which the society is capable of turning against a person without questioning, highlights the duality of individuals. The discussion thus plays a significant role in illustrating the themes of discrimination and duality of individuals as evident from both stories.
References
Jackson, S. (2016). The Lottery and Other Stories. New Canadian Library.
Wolfe, T. (1987). The Child by Tiger. In F. E. Skipp, The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe (pp.332-348). New York: Scribner’s.
