Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" and Thomas Wolf's "The Child by Tiger".
Connell's story demonstrates a commercial fiction style of writing .
whereas Wolf's tale uses the literary fiction style. For a story to be commercial fiction, it must .
possess characteristics that ultimately make it a form of pure entertainment. The plot, setting, .
theme, and characterizations all follow a certain criteria designed exclusively to amuse the .
reader. The author uses simple methods for presenting his ideas to grasp the audience's .
attention. Literary fiction, on the other hand, is not written solely for the purpose of entertainment .
value, but also strives to enlighten the reader about human life. Unlike commercial fiction, literary .
fiction does not follow a certain pattern. It focuses on the reality of what could happen. There .
are distinct contrasts between "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Child by Tiger" beyond .
their classification of either literary or commercial. .
"The Most Dangerous Game" takes place in a very improbable atmosphere, much like .
the fairy tales of long, long ago and far, far away. This is consistent with a commercialized fiction .
experience designed to remove the reader from the everyday. It is not very often that one sees a .
"massive palatial chateau" on a small island in the middle of nowhere, such as General .
Zeroff's castle is described. This is just one of the things that makes the physical environment of .
the story seem unreal. Even the author describes the surroundings as being "hung [about with] .
an air of unreality" (Connell, 13). When reading about the castle, it easy to discount the physical .
improbability of General Zeroffs having produced such a massive home. In commercial fiction, the .
reader is expected to continue on and accept the unreality of the settingas part of the story's .
charm.The social setting for "The Most Dangerous Game" is also very improbable. General .
