"The Child by Tiger" is not only a wonderful short story but an excellent learning tool as well. Much can be learned from the way the author writes the story. Thomas Wolfe uses characters, setting, and imagery to establish a theme of violence and savagery of the human soul.
             Characters of young boys and older men, whites and blacks, are used in a unique and realistic way to convey Wolfe's message about life. The young white boys learned in one night the harsh reality of evil. The boys go to sleep one night in houses "warm with crackling fires and shaded light" only to awake during the night as adults to a world of lawless savagery (Wolfe, 702). Black people are also used in "The Child by Tiger" to show violence and savagery; Dick is beaten by a drunken white man and he "took it full in the face" without moving (Wolfe, 699). The characters in this story certainly show the violence and savagery of the human soul.
             Thomas Wolfe uses setting to establish theme as well. "The Child by Tiger" was written around 1937. The first sentence of the story sets it back about 25 years before this date. These clues place the story in the time of slavery where blacks were not treated equally. Also, the story takes place in a town separated into housing for whites and a little community for blacks to live in. Because of this separation and time frame, the theme of violence and savagery of the human soul is strongly outlined.
             "The red-on-white color imagery which pervades Macbeth is also highly significant in Wolfe's story" (Wilhelm, 179). This red-on-white color imagery really ties everything together; it foreshadows Dick's eventual violence. On a few occasions when Dick is abused or threatened he remains passive but "the whites of his eyes" are "shot with red" (Wolfe, 699). Then Dick's first murder falls into the imagery category
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