Escape literature is a form of fiction writing that’s mostly used for purposes of entertainment and recreation. Interpretative literature, on the other hand, provides a deeper meaning and broadens one’s view of the stories told. It expands the reader’s life awareness and communicates some truths about human existence. In addition, interpretive literature helps the reader understand life situations better such that a death in a certain family would symbolize the fall of a society. The novels “Child by Tiger” by Thomas Wolfe and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell are a good example of short stories which exemplify these two types of fiction. In my view, “The Most Dangerous Game” represents escape literature while “Child by Tiger” is interpretive literature.
The characters in “Child by Tiger” are interpretative characters. Dick Prosser, one of the main characters in this novel, is more complex than say, Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Game.” The writer characterizes Dick more directly, a common trait in interpretative literature. Since the story is told from someone else’s point of view, the reader has to infer and decipher the character’s personality from his actions and through their words, as the writer does not make any explicit statements of the same. The reader is not told what the character is thinking and why he does things in the way that he does them, making it their responsibility to read through the story told and make it their conclusion on why he acts so. At the beginning of the story, Dick is a gentle and tender character “…deeply religious.” (Wolfe, 25) and he even tells other white boys, “you gotta love each othah like a brothah” (Wolfe, 26) but turns out to be a twisted and crazy killer towards the end. He however, changes from an evil person and asks for forgiveness which is a more believable change after one has realized that they have committed evil actions. He is both a dynamic and very convincing character, some of the traits found in interpretive literature.
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Dick seems to be motivated by his emotions, much like a life-like character who knows what he has done and whether or not this makes him a morally good person. Just like most characters, Dick has good in as well as evil traits and the reader can see evil building up in him as the story progresses. “But suddenly the whites of his eyes were shot red…” (Wolfe, 27). The fact that his eyes turn red is a hidden representation of his emotional build-up, which the reader has to decipher all by himself. He is constantly fighting this anger that has been building up in him until the end of the story when he finally reaches his boiling point and gets in on a killing spree. This are the characteristic traits that make Dick an interpretative literature character. “The Child by Tiger” also has a theme something not present in the other novel even though it is only stated implicitly. The theme is that the origin of man is unclear and that all men are capable of loving and violence when pushed to it. This theme illustrates life’s theory. The poem in the book “Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (Wolfe, 24) Shows that we all have an inner evil, somewhat similar to a tiger that’s hidden in us.
Conversely, General Zaroff’s character in “The Most Dangerous Game” is explicitly understood by the audience in the first read. When he is first introduced to us in the novel, a head to toe description of him is given to the audience by the writer. “…gigantic creature, solidly made and black-bearded to the waist” (Connell, 11). “His eyes, too, were black and very bright. He had high cheekbones, a sharp-cut nose, a spare, dark face, the face of a man used to giving orders, the face of an aristocrat ” (Connell, 12). This is direct characterization, a common trait in escape literature. He is a flat character and there is nothing dynamic or hidden of him that the reader is required to dig deep and find out. His feelings are the same from the beginning to the end of the story, unlike Dick’s which change from good to evil then good again, making him a more static character. Static characters are hard to come by in real life as people change in the courses of their lifetime, depending on the situations they find themselves in. He remains a typically twisted bad guy, up until he meets his death. He is not realistic nor does he embody a human character as no human being finds a hobby in hunting and killing his fellow humans. “The Most Dangerous Game” like most escape literature novels has a happy ending in that the antagonist in the story dies to the advantage of the good in the novel, a typical action hero story where evil is defeated and the good win. The story is also about man Zarroff against Rainsford and the story ends with the death of the killer, Zarroff which is a classic victory of good over evil that one doesn’t have to dig deep to see.
The short story “The Child by Tiger” has a moral significance as compared to “The Most Dangerous Game” because of its applicability to humanity and their situation. The conflict in “The Child by Tiger” mirrors that which all humans face and what choices they make when faced with some difficulties. It shows how humans experience struggles within them and the dilemma they face in making the right choice between good and evil something lacking in “The Most Dangerous Game.” The character Dick Posser teaches us that the discretion of choosing between good and evil lies within us and pushed to our limits, we would choose evil.
