Critique Paper

Critique Paper

I. Title: The Discourager of Hesitancy

  Author: Frank R. Stockton

Frank Richard Stockton was an American writer who is well-known because of his innovative children’s fairy tales. He loves to put humor in his stories. He was born in Philadelphia in the year 1834. Seven years after his father’s death in 1860, he wrote a newspaper that was founded by his brother. His first book collection was released in 1870.

Stockton’s most famous fable is “The Lady or The Tiger?” Since it was an open-ended story, many people were intrigued about the ending. Stockton’s strategy was to never give a hint about what’s going to happen to make his audience be hooked while reading. He, then, wrote a sequel to this story, “The Discourager of Hesitancy.”

  Genre: Mystery/Suspense

The story is a mystery/suspense. As the high officer tell the story about what happened after the lady and the tiger incident, they were thinking which one of the beautiful maidens is the prince’s bride and which one did he choose in the end. As the prince try to think and choose his bride/wife, the suspense was getting stronger since we don’t know what will happen next. The five strangers didn’t know which lady was the bride, and so not until they find out about it, they’ll never know if the lady or the tiger came out in the first story. Like in the story of “The Lady or the Tiger,” Stockton leaves his audience’s minds boggled because of the uncertain ending of The Discourager of Hesitancy. Both stories still remain a mystery to all.

II. PLOT
  A. Exposition
          After the incident in the arena about the lady or the tiger, five strangers from a far country came into the palace to ask the high officer of the court about the recent news regarding the incident. They told him that one of their countrymen was present during the trial and witnessed everything, although he did not finish it out of fear. The five strangers’ interest in the happening led...