In Ha Jin’s “The Bridegroom,” short story “A Tiger Fighter is Hard to Find” explores the experiences of a Chinese film crew and an actor named Wang Huping who is chosen to fight and kill a tiger on camera. Although Huping is hurt by the tiger, the director continues to give him praise and encourages him to keep fighting. As the narrative unfolds, Huping is seen as a hero by the government for his work when he previously fought the tiger the first time. Huping then fights the tiger a second time and is hurt. This story clearly reveals shared human desires such as success and belonging, however, when these desires go unchecked, they can quickly morph into greed and lead to becoming power-hungry. The director of the TV show in the story is willing to continue at any cost, even if it means sacrificing the safety of the actor, Huping, and the tiger. This idea of perpetuating violence and cruel treatment of both the tiger and Huping purely for the sake of entertainment and the government’s desire to get a message across on television reminded me a lot of some of the themes present in the Hunger Games series, which explores violence and abuse for purpose of public entertainment. Beyond the reality of being harmed or killed by the tiger, the actor is also left traumatized and has to cope with the trauma of what he has been through, which has a major impact on his mental health at the end of the story. Overall, I think Ha Jin’s story sheds light on several important themes and issues, including the idea of abuse and violence for the purpose of entertainment, shared human desires for success and belonging, as well as how these can sometimes lead to greed and ambition, and the importance of mental health.