Annotated Bibliography: The Lady, Or The Tiger?

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GROUP PRESENTATION The Lady , or The Tiger? by Francis Richard Stockton I. AUTHOR Birth Date: April 5, 1834 Death Date: April 20, 1902 Nationality: American 1. Early life Born in Philadelphia on 5 April 1834, Francis Richard Stockton (Frank R. Stockton) was the third son of William Smith Stockton and his second wife, Emily Drean Stockton. Since their first two children had died in infancy, he was the eldest living child. Stockton was a slight, frail boy who was born with one leg shorter than the other. His physical activities were limited during his youth, so he began creating lengthy stories. Often these tales were developed in his imagination for several days…show more content…
PLOT SUMMARY "The Lady, or the Tiger" begins with a description of a semi-barbaric king who punishes criminals in a unique way.  He has built an arena featuring two doors and the criminal must choose his own fate by selecting one of the two doors.  Behind one door is a hungry tiger that will eat the prisoner alive and behind the other door is a beautiful lady who will be married to the accused on the spot.  The people in the kingdom are very entertained by this. The king has a beautiful daughter who secretly loves a young man who is a commoner.  The king does not think the young man is good enough for his daughter so he sentences the young man to be put into the arena to choose a door. The princess loves the young man and does not want to lose him to the ravenous tiger or to another woman in marriage.  The princess knows which fate is behind each door and she also knows who the woman is going to be behind the door.  She hates this woman. In the arena that day, the young man looks at the princess, expecting her to know which door hides what fate.  The princess makes a motion toward the right-hand door, and this is the door her lover opens.  The story stops exactly at the point he opens the door.  It does not tell his…show more content…
REFLECTION This is such a famous story that it earned reputation for Stockton and the title “"The Lady, or the Tiger?" has come into the English language as an expression, meaning an unsolvable problem. Yet, not many people have heard about the sequel of this story, which named “The Discourager of Hesitancy”. The setting of this second story is based on what left on the first story, and it was told by a person who did not attend in the incident till the end. He was curious about the destiny of the man and decided to find out the answer. Surprisingly, this decision brought up to another puzzle dealt by a prince from a far place. So, the first puzzle was not solved, and the second puzzle continued being left unsolved. However, the point I am about to mention here is not related to either the two left puzzles but about something called

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