Muscles tense, nostrils dilated, the beautiful feline creature observes its future prey, a harmless antelope drinking from the watering hole. Without a moment's hesitation, the black-and-orange-striped tiger takes a full step and pounces on its victim, tearing the defenseless antelope to shreds with its razor-sharp teeth and powerful, bone-crushing bite. This tiger, which sits at the top of the animal food chain, is an expert predator. Thomas Wolfe's “The Child by Tiger,” set in the Deep South in the early 1930s, addresses the predatory nature of humanity, contemplating the existence of an inner “tiger” in all men and women. The story begins with the narrator reflecting on the rampage of the African American Dick Prosser, twenty-five years after the event. The story reveals, through the exemplary case of Dick, that hostile social environments can ignorantly push men and women to commit unfathomable crimes that unleash their inner “tigers.” Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Dick faces constant adversity due to his racist social environment, which slowly brings out his inner tiger. A motif of “darkness” appears in the last paragraph (Wolfe 657). Indeed, this motif reveals that Dick has always had a dark passenger, or inner tiger. Dick, “a sign of the other side of man's dark soul”, is a faithful representation of a fundamental evil, the evil that develops from the mere experience of life. This evil, which afflicts all who experience life, is rooted so deeply in the “soul” of Dick in particular, that he physically becomes a “sign” or tangible representation of this evil (657). However, Dick's malevolent nature does not become apparent to everyone until he is pushed too far by his social context, forcing him to unleash his "unknown demon", committing horrible and satanic evils, namely murder. Furthermore, the repetition of “silence” in the first paragraph infers that Dick originally seeks to silence his emerging inner evil. His efforts, however, are futile, as he ultimately embraces his animalistic and natural "demon", succumbing to the evil that accrues from his harsh life experiences. The city, with its deep-rooted racism, unknowingly pushes Dick to break up. point. Throughout the narrative the "mystery" surrounding Dick and the reasons for his fury is repeated. Members of the community truly believe that the reason for Dick's rampage is a "mystery", illustrated by the repetition of the word, however, from an outside perspective, it is quite evident that the community's discriminatory policies have driven him to these extremes. “No one ever knew” why Dick snapped (656). Community members at the time were clearly unaware of how racism, which was common in their society, formed a harsh social environment for African Americans, including Dick. It remained a “wonder” how their own derogatory treatment of Dick could drive him into a murderous rage (656). In truth, the community doesn't even see their treatment of Dick and other African Americans as "derogatory," rather their attitudes as racist. Their beliefs were so significant that they believed the treatment of African Americans as less than human was just and deserved. These racist beliefs of society are also perpetuated by a mob mentality that is evident within the community, as individuals are afraid to speak out against racism, afraid to speak out against the traditional “mob” belief. The town's racism ultimately causes Dick to release his inner tiger in the.