Both Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and Jerry in “Through the Tunnel” set a challenge for themselves, in “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Paul challenged himself to prove to his mother that he has luck, as his mother believes that if Paul is lucky, he will be able to earn money, thus resulting in his mother loving him. He thinks that if he takes on his family's financial burden and responsibilities as well as solving their problems, his mother will appreciate him. Paul was motivated toward his goal because he was determined to achieve it and gain his mothers love and affection as well as proving to her that he is lucky. In “Through the Tunnel”, Jerry challenged himself to swim through the tunnel, the local boys were able to hold their breaths long enough to swim through the tunnel, which showed Jerry what he was also capable of doing. He trained everyday to be able to swim through the tunnel. What motivated Jerry was his determination to be like the local boys and be able to hold his breath long enough to swim through the tunnel, and to be able to gain the skills and have the confidence he sees in the local boys. Both challenges are similar in a way that the main characters both have challenges and goals in order to prove something to someone, whether it is to prove it to themselves like Jerry or prove it to someone else like Paul, that they are capable enough to succeed and achieve their goal. The difference is that their motives are very different. Paul wants to show his mother that he is lucky in order to gain her affection and love whereas Jerry wants to swim through the tunnel in order to prove to himself that he is as capable as the local boys are, as well as swimming through the tunnel symbolizes the transition from childhood to adulthood for Jerry. Jerry loves his mother very much, and feels connected to her, though, he is forced to transition into adulthood. Even though he wants to leave his mother behind and become an adult, he still wants her to always be there for him.Racism is definitely a very important to the setting and context of “The Train from Rhodesia” and “Poison”. In “The Train from Rhodesia”, the train is full of rich white citizens, they are brought into contact with the native people, but also the train separates them from the natives. There's a young woman on the train who comes to notice how horribly the white passengers' behavior is and sees that they are taking advantage of the native people. The native artists are compared to “performing animals”, the white passengers do not consider the natives as humans, which force the natives to act as though they are actually “performing animals” when both the white and native travelers are human beings. Classifying people into groups and treating them as inferior to others and separating them from other so called “people of superior race” prevents people from seeing the other members in our society. In “Poison” the snake represents the racism of Harry as well as the racism of the whole nation. Even though the mutual fear of the snake temporarily unites Harry and the doctor, the racial separation which exists between the two worsens. When everyone comes to know that the snake does not exist, the doctor is confused whether the snake ever existed, and asks Harry just that, which greatly angers Harry, causing him to lash out and call the doctor a “dirty little sewer rat”, this, obviously shows that Harry believes he is superior to the doctor. This kind of racism causes a lot of fear for the characters in the story. Even though Harry has military power to protect him he believes that he is not strong, but instead, very weak, which could be caused by the fact that he lives with the oppressed. Doctor Ganderbaj also feels a sense of fear and weakness, since he is part of the oppressed race he thinks that his profession of being a doctor could be at stake if he does not save Harry's life. We can really feel that the author wants to make it clear that if racism exists people will be unable to profit from the great things which can happen if both the oppressed race and the superior race connect, and that both sides will suffer if racism exists.believe that “Poison” has the most suspense, the author takes about ten whole pages to come to the point when the doctor pulls the sheet, the author builds of suspense by adding a lot of details and creating tension and also by setting the scene. The author sets the scene that it is late at night and it is dark outside, when Timber enters the room he sees Harry laying on the bed, sweating.
