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The Most Dangerous Game

The story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell is a tremendous tale. In it Rainsford, a hunter, falls off a yacht and finds himself on an island. General Zaroff owns the island. He and Rainsford talk, and Rainsford learns that Zaroff hunts humans for sport. They make a deal and Rainsford finds himself being hunted. The story is against hunting, it shows the irony in hunting and beliefs people can have about it.

In, the story humans are the “dangerous game” to be hunted. Rainsford believes that the prey has no feelings, but when the tables are turned and he is the prey, he is contradicted. As Rainsford is hunted he becomes like the animals he hunts. He tries to stay alive. He understands what Whitney said on the ship. As Rainsford says at the end of the story “I am still a beast at bay.” He might mean that he is still the prey, but the prey has turned on the hunter and is defending itself.

The story shows how people can be caught up in the sport of hunting and go crazy psycho hunter and start to hunt humans. Zaroff said “I wanted the ideal animal to hunt.” He means Humans. He wanted to be challenged and he has. Rainsford wants to stay alive. In the story Rainsford hunts Zaroff, or the prey turns on the hunter. He sets traps to save himself. He sets a Malay Man-catcher, a Burmese Tiger Pit, and a Sapling Trap. On the hunt, Zaroff’s best hound dies, and Ivan dies, who is Zaroff’s right hand man.

The story put Rainsford in the position of the prey. It helps us see how the prey feels when it is hunted. Although animals don’t know what’s going on. Maybe that’s a reason why Zaroff started hunting humans, so they will fight back. Rainsford is human so he will fight back, since he doesn’t want to hunt with Zaroff. Rainsford fights back and succeeds.

When Rainsford killed Zaroff was it not ferocity? The prey kills the hunter. Rains turned into the hunter. He slept in Zaroff’s bed. He became Zaroff. Rainsford said he would not hunt humans. Even though he turns into the human hunter. The irony is, the prey became the hunter.

Analysis of The Most Dangerous Game  

Many people look at themselves in the mirror and say, " I know who I am."  But how many of them have done so after analyzing themselves through a story?  And if they have done that, how many of them were being honest with themselves? A Lacanian analysis can bring out sides of us that we didn't know existed. I found this to be true after reading "The Most Dangerous Game." By looking at the events in the story and the characters that play them out, I found that there is a part of me that has an insatiable curiosity and a love of danger.

      To begin with, by looking closely at the main characters and their actions, I found a small part of myself in each of them. When Rainsford heard gunshots from the yacht, he jumped up onto the ship's railing. My initial response was, "Why would you do such a thing when no one is there to help if you fall?" I believe that this was my logical, sensible reaction. However, if I look at the situation with a sense of curiosity I find that I would have done the same thing. I think this is because, even though I've always tried to be a responsible, reasoning person, I have always had a desire to be carefree and daring. I think that want comes from movies I've seen in the past and books I've read in which the female characters were adventurous and lived for danger. I can remember times when I would finish reading a book, perhaps, and try to be just like the adventuring character.

      I can also look at General Zaroff, too, and see a hidden facet to my person. What I first thought of the General was that he was disgusting, evil, and had no respect for human life. I thought, "Oh my gosh, what if there really are people like this in the world?" However, when General Zaroff laid all the cards on the table and stated his purpose, hunting people, specifically Rainsford, I was oddly intrigued. I was frustrated with myself for being interested in such an inhumane game. But upon further examination of my reaction, I found that it wasn't the game that literally that fascinated me, but the concept of it; the danger. I feel that this interested me because the very few tastes of danger that I've had in the past have appeared to me as fun, actually living life to the fullest extent. Rainsford's curiosity and General Zaroff's obsession with danger are both found in my hidden personality because in my subconscious mind I've developed a passion for such things through personal experiences and fictional occurrences.

      In the same way, some of the events in the story grabbed my attention.  When the game started and Rainsford began running in confusion  from General Zaroff, I felt that I, too, needed to think of a means of escape. "...spurred on by...panic." This is how Rainsford describes his actions. If a person is driven by panic alone, a certain danger awaits them. In an odd way, this moved me to something like excitement; excitement for that danger that lurked ahead of Rainsford in the jungle of bushes all over the island. I think I was interested in this because this sort of situation is foreign to me, in a way. And ever since I was young, trying new things has appealed to me. So naturally, something that I have rarely had experience with would snatch my attention. Another happening in the story was when General Zaroff set the hounds on Rainsford. "Ever nearer drew the hounds. Rainsford forced himself (onward)..." In the same section, "He heard the hounds.  Then he leaped far out into the sea." The constant reminder of the pursuing hounds awakened a fear in me, I think because I have a habit of putting myself in the character's position. It was no different here; I pretended I was Rainsford. But what shocked me was that I almost enjoyed the fear. I believe that I responded this way because my life has always been safe and I've always looked before leaping because that is what I was taught to do by teachers and my parents when I was young.

      All in all, I find that within the safe, studious, careful person that I am, there lies a much deeper person a person that enjoys walking on the wild  side, being dangerous, and throwing caution to the wind. I can see this side of me more clearly when I read "The Most Dangerous Game" because the events and characters in the story somehow transform me into my danger-loving twin.

A Plot Summary

"The Most Dangerous Island" is a story of two hunters, both of very different backgrounds, whose common interests' and unexpected fate would bring the couple together. Rainsford is a famous hunter from New York who is traveling to the Amazon. As they pass an island a friend on board tells him, "The old charts call it "Ship-Trap Island." Sailors have a curious dread of the place."

During a sleepless, night Rainsford went to smoke a pipe when he suddenly heard gun fire in the distance. As he climbs upon the rail of the yacht to peruse through the darkness for the origin of the shots, he fell into the blood-warm water of the Caribbean. After the yacht had continued into the distance, Rainsford began his swim toward the origin of the gun shots that he had previously heard.

The next day, on the island, he came upon lights that appeared to be a village, but turned out to be one enormous building. When he knocked on the door a monster of a man, named Ivan, bombarded Rainsford with a pistol. Rainsford began introducing himself, but as he did, General Zaroff, who was listening in the background recognized him as a famous hunter and invited him in for dinner. At dinner the General tells Rainsford, "God makes some men poets. Some He makes kings, and some beggars. Me He made a hunter." As the dinner progresses the general tells about his different hunts and how after a while he grew more and more tiresome of them. "I wanted the ideal animal to hunt," explained the general. Rainsford asked, "What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?" "It must have courage, cunning, and above all, it must be able to reason." The general is referring to a human! The general sees murder as just a game.

The general forces Rainsford to play his twisted game. Immediately Rainsford takes off trying to leave a bewildering trail as he goes. When nightfall comes, he shimmies up a tree for camouflage but the general tracks him down, toys with him, and then leaves. After this, Rainsford builds a Malay man-catcher which falls onto the shoulder of the general and cuts him. Rainsford again begins to run and finds himself stuck in quicksand. After he pulls himself out, he digs a man sized pit and places sharpened sticks at the bottom in order to stab whoever tumbles into it. Unfortunately, the general does not fall in, but his favorite dog does.

As Rainsford continues on his flee from the general, he sets yet another trap. He ties the knife to a springy tree so it will strike whoever triggers it. As Ivan, the dogs, and the general come hastily down the trail, the knife finds its mark on Ivan's chest. The final dual happens after Rainsford jumps from a cliff into the water and climbs up to the fortress and into the generals' room. The two duel in the generals' quarters. The next morning, Rainsford decided that he never slept in a better bed.

The conclusion

the conclusion is that rainsford for being brave and successful in surviving got what he deserved just like zarroff.

After Rainsford jumps off the cliff, he survives and swims to the chateau. Rainsford sneaks into Zaroff's bedroom, and surprises him. Connell does not write what happens, but the last line shows that Rainsford defeated Zaroff.

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The Most Dangerous Game Characters

Ivan

Ivan is the deaf and dumb assistant to General Zaroff. He is extremely large and seems to enjoy torturing and murdering helpless captives. Indeed, Zaroff uses the threat of turning his huntees over to Ivan if they will not comply with his desire to hunt them; the huntees invariably choose to be hunted rather than face the brutal Ivan. Ivan, like Zaroff, is a Cossack-a Russian who served as a soldier to the Russian Czar in the early 1900s. Ivan dies as the result of one of Rainsford's traps.

Sanger Rainsford

After hearing gunshots in the darkness, Sanger Rainsford falls off a yacht into the Caribbean Sea. "It was not the first time he had been in a tight place," however. Rainsford is an American hunter of world renown, and is immediately recognized by General Zaroff as the author of a book on hunting snow leopards in Tibet. While he shares...

The Most Dangerous Game Themes

Rainsford, a noted hunter, falls off a ship and swims to a foreboding island. He finds there the evil General Zaroff who, with the help of his brutish assistant, hunts humans for sport. After three days of fighting for his life in the jungle while Zaroff hunts him, Rainsford surprises Zaroff and kills him. At the story's end, it is not clear if Rainsford will leave the Island or take Zaroff's place.

Violence and Cruelty

Essentially an action-packed thriller, Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" builds around explosions of violence. The violence of his malicious host, General Zaroff, initially shocks Rainsford, but as he fights to stay alive he becomes caught up in Zaroff's game. Zaroff attempts to justify his violence with "civilized" arguments. He poses as a modern rationalist and argues against "romantic ideas about the value of human life" and then scolds Rainsford for being "extraordinarily droll" in his response...

The Most Dangerous Game Style

Setting

"The Most Dangerous Game," a gripping tale that pits man versus man in a South American jungle, includes elements that recall several literary genres, including Gothic, action-adventure, and horror.

In "The Most Dangerous Game," Richard Connell provides an ominous setting typical of the Gothic genre. Horrible sounds and dismal sights fill the background of this story, and the details become more frightening and typical of both the horror and action-adventure genres as the story progresses. When he falls off the yacht, Rainsford immediately finds himself in the "blood warm waters of the Caribbean sea"-an indication of worse things to come. He fights through the surf, listening to gunshots and the screams of dying animals he later finds out were humans. Rainsford passes over rocks that he could have "shattered against" only to leave "the enemy, the sea" for "knit webs of weeds and trees." The environment is consistently malicious,...

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: The Most Dangerous Game

Point of View: 3rd person full omniscient

Protagonist: Rainsford

What type of character is the Protagonist?

Round and dynamic.

Antagonist: General Zaroff

Describe the setting

The setting was on Ship Trap Island owned by General Zaroff

Type of Conflict: Man vs Man

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict was Man vs Man because it was head on from Rainsford being "the hunter gets hunted", while General Zaroff is the hunter. General Zaroff did not dislike Rainsford and hunted him, but because Rainsford is athletic, and bright, he tries to kill him in his game.

Describe the Climax of the Story:

The climax of the story was when Rainsford was swimming back to Zaroffs home, after getting chased by all Zaroffs hounds, and killing Zaroff.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?

The protagonist changes from just being confused, and stuck on an island, to being hunted, and wanting to get off the island knowing that Zaroff is a murderer.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

The title "The Most Dangerous Game", and the theme "Cruelty" are related because "The Most Dangerous Game" in this story is only possible with cruelty, and the game involves weapons, and hounds chasing after the victim.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?

The main conflict of Man vs Man helped illustrate the theme of "Cruelty" because Zaroff made Rainsford play a cruel game with him, in which Zaroff tries to kill Rainsford, but in the end, Rainsford is a bit cruel, and kills Zaroff.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?

The climax of the story of when Rainsford kills Zaroff helped illustrate the theme of "Cruelty" because Rainsford thinks that this will end his cruelty in his killing game, but he is a bit cruel himself because he also murders a man.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: "Tomorrow you'll feel like a new man, I'll wager."

Metaphor: "I have played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable."

Personification: "...the dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one..."

Symbol: Gun was a symbol of death.

Foreshadowing (give both elements):

There was a lot of foreshadowing in this story. Once hearing about General Zaroffs disastrous game, we the readers would expect the game to be played on Rainsford.

Irony: The irony of this story was when Zaroff wants to hunt with Rainsford, but Rainsford ends up being the one that is hunted.

Imagery: "The dining room to which Ivan conducted him was in many ways remarkable. There was a medieval magnificence about it; it suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast refectory tables where twoscore men could sit down to eat."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.

The class theme of "Humanities" is related to this story because some "things" did not satisfy Zaroff so that he had to start hunting his own species. This seems unhuman, but Zaroff has many emotions over this. Zaroff seems proud of himself hunting every sailor successfully, but I believe that he feels hurt in the inside.

Analysis of "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard C

Analysis of "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell is about a hunter in search of his prey. However, a twist in the story occurs when this great hunter becomes the prey. The main character of the story is Rainsford. He sets out on a hunt for wild animals, which her refers to as “the best sport in the world”(line 9 page 58) with his partner, Whitney. While enroute to their hunting camp by boat they hear gunshots followed by a screaming sound. Rainsford suddenly drops his pipe into the water and in an attempt to retrieve it he falls in too. He swims in the direction of the screams and finds an island with a large mansion on it. He then encounters General Zaroff, also an avid hunter and owner of the island. However, Zaroff’s game is human. He explains to Raiford that he has hunted animals all over the world. In looking for a challenge he attempted to find an animal with “courage, cunning and reason”(Connell 66). He finally found one and it is human. He then provides Raiford with supplies and instructions on how the “outdoor Chess” (Connell 70) game with humans will be played. It pits Zaroff against Raiford in a game of intelligence, strength and stamina.

One aspect of conflict used in this story is "Man vs. Man" conflict involving General Zaroff and Sanger Rainsford. They disagreed on the belief of hunting innocent human beings. Rainsford argued that what Zaroff did was cold-blooded murder and that no one was supposed to do such a horrible thing. But Zaroff insisted that he was no murderer, he simply found a new game. Conflict between these two character didn't end here, Zaroff chasing Rainsford in the woods to kill him was also a physical form of "Man vs. Man" conflict. Another form of conflict found in this story is "Man vs. Nature" when a character has to face some natural force like water or fire.

General Zaroff, can best be described as sadistic, arrogant, and manipulative, this keeps him at the focus of this story. The worst trait of Zaroff is his arrogance. He claims that he is superior to people of different races and feels it is his job to abolish the weak.. This idea is expressed when Zaroff says “Life is for the strong, and, if...

CONFLICT IN THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

Conflicts in "The Most Dangerous Game"

"The Most Dangerous Game" is a bizarre hunting story. In this story, General Zaroff hunts

Rainsford. Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" included many types of conflict,

such as the following: Rainsford versus nature, Rainsford versus himself, and Rainsford

versus General Zaroff.

The first type of external conflict, Rainsford versus nature, was portrayed many times in

the story. While Rainsford was on the ship with his friend Whitney, he had an encounter

with the bad weather and the "moist black velvet night." When Rainsford fell in the

ocean, he had a tough battle with the water. Rainsford barely had enough energy to swim

to the Ship-Trap Island. Another external conflict transpired when Rainsford was in the

jungle trying to outlast General Zaroff for three day, Rainsford had to deal with the

scorching heat. Being in the jungle, Rainsford also had to deal with numerous kinds of

insects and animals. The battle between Rainsford and nature was difficult; nevertheless,

Rainsford did not surrender.

In addition to Rainsford's struggle with nature, he also had struggles within himself.

When in the ocean, he went through another type of internal conflict; Rainsford had to

stop panicking or he would have drowned. He became coolheaded and realized his clothes

were not helping his strokes so he "wrestled out of his clothes." Rainsford also kept a

cool head when Ivan was pointing a pistol at him, Rainsford knew he had to keep his

composure or Ivan would fire away. Another type of internal conflict that

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Rainsford went through was when General Zaroff's told him about hunting men; Rainsford

contemplated within himself of whether he should or should not attack General Zaroff. An

equally important internal conflict occurred during the three days that Rainsford was in

the jungle; Connell used conflict when Rainsford kept telling himself I will not lose my

nerve. I will not (Connell 20). While Rainsford was on the tree and General Zaroff was

below, Rainsford had to struggle within himself not to make a single noise or move a

muscle. Instead of getting some much-needed rest, Rainsford had to fight himself to keep

going. Since Rainsford was a prolific hunter, he used his intelligence to keep the focus

of the task at hand.

The most important external conflict was between Rainsford and the inhumane General

Zaroff. Rainsford was given hunting clothes, food, and a knife to survive to the midnight

of the third day. Rainsford could have also clashed with Ivan, but Rainsford was

frightened of Ivan. Rainsford's conflict with General Zaroff lasted three days. Rainsford

outsmarted General Zaroff to a degree, when he came up with a fake trail for General

Zaroff to follow. Also, Rainsford tried to defeat General Zaroff by making a Burmese

tiger pit, but General Zaroff did not fall for the trap. By killing Ivan with the knife,

Rainsford's battle with General Zaroff was almost on an even playing field. At the end of

the third day in General Zaroff's room, the two men had their final brawl. Rainsford

said, I am still a beast at bay," "Get ready, General Zaroff (Connell 23). The victor of

this external conflict was Rainsford.

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Finally, in "The Most Dangerous Game" written by Richard Connell, Rainsford conquered

nature, himself, and General Zaroff to survive. From swimming with all his energy to

keeping himself calm to killing General Zaroff, Rainsford went through it all. The

different types of conflict in "The Most Dangerous Game" were essential literary tactics

to create the mystery of this magnificent short story.

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