Hunting In The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

Zaroff, another big-game hunter, knows of Rainsford from his published account of hunting snow leopards in Tibet. After inviting him to dinner, General Zaroff tells Rainsford he is bored of hunting because it no longer challenges him;

General Zaroff states, “ Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters.” ( pg 49) In this quote General Zaroff doesn’t think of hunting as a sport but as a correlation straight to real life. The quote shows that General Zaroff has an incredibly disgusting way of looking at life and everybody in it. General Zaroff’s insanity is shown because he think of everything besides himself as huntees and this shows he is a murderer. “ I hunt the scum of the earth- sailors from tramp ships, lascars,blacks, chinese, and mongrels.”( pg 49) This quote is saying that General Zaroff thinks that murder is a game, and he doesn’t feel bad about killing anyone of his hunts. This tells us that hunting/killing humans is a normal hobby for him and he does it often. The quote shows that General Zaroff’s mind is unstable and his thoughts are very distasteful. “ This is why I use them. It gives me pleasure. They can reason, after a fashion.” ( pg 50) General Zaroff is basically saying that he likes using humans for the hunt because it gives him pleasure. He is unbothered at the fact he is taking a human life away for a exhilarating game. When he says killing people because it brings him pleasure since they try to reason with him, but he puts himself in a position where he looks insane and murderous. It shows General Zaroff’s insane way of thinking and his thoughts on

When he tracked Rainsford to the tree he was hiding in, Zaroff felt that taking Rainsford would have been too easy so he left him for another day’s sport. Near the end of the story, Zaroff continued to see Rainsford is an adversary. The General came to see Rainsford as a formidable opponent. When Zaroff faced Rainsford in his bedroom he had to realize that Rainsford was presenting him with the danger he sought. The General’s view of Rainsford changed from seeing Rainsford as a fellow hunter to seeing him as an opponent he could not defeat.

General Zaroff admits to having read Rainsford's book, and demonstrates great craft in creating the game that he made for this island. He also says directly of himself that he has an "analytical mind ». He claims that  « Now, mine is an analytical mind, Mr. Rainsford. Doubtless that is why I enjoy the problems of the chase, (Connell pg. 100 or 10.) » He has also for a time commanded a division of Cossack cavalry. Which requires someone who willingness allows themselves to be influenced by other people and to share their ideas openly to enhances their ability or apitude, while being psychologically closed can cause problems. Leaders who are psychologically open seek diverse opinions, so they can see and hear more and factor a wider range of information into their decisions (like he did with Rainsford, wanting to know his opinions on him  "hunting" humans). He has also a lot of tricks up his sleeve as he was capable of dismissing Rainsford trap that he equally knew off … « The Malay man-catcher » He had said «Not many men know how to make a Malay man catcher (Connell pg.19 ou 109) ». Luckily, for me, I too have hunted in Malacca Connell pg.19 ou 109.With his knowledge of hunting he was capable of tracing and finding Rainsford not once but twice, which proves that he’s very good at what he does and has an impeccable eyesight ! He could’ve killed Rainsford right away and could’ve won the game but decided not to because he is "just so much fun" and always plays his little « games ». Zaroff just simply has a vicious, sadistic and ruthless mind of physically and mentally torturing his enemies or

"Hurled me against a tree," said the general. "Fractured my skull. But I got the brute” (R’Connell). This just demonstrates how ruthless Zaroff is because he fractured his skull but he just doesn't care. "Oh," said the general, "it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world. No other hunting compares with it for an instant. Every day I hunt, and I never grow bored now, for I have a quarry with which I can match my wits” (R’Connell). Zaroff is never too tired to hunt or too sick, no matter how he feels he will always hunt. All of Zaroff’s behaviors are what make him relentless.

General Zaroff’s cool headedness adds to the various textual evidence that he is not, in fact, insane. When he is introduced to the story, he praises Rainsford's hunting ability with a seemed preparedness. Rainsford observes that the General seems to read his mind at times. He is prepared for every question that Rainsford has, and even answers some that were never asked. His actions seem calculated to make Rainsford more comfortable with him, however, as a fellow hunter, Rainsford observes, “whenever he looked up from his plate he found the general studying him, appraising him narrowly.” This makes Rainsford uncomfortable, sets him on edge for the information that Zaroff is about to reveal. During the hunt, Zaroff

Connell shows the reader the ugliness of humanity and the one-sided thought process of the human mind through irony in his storyline. "’For the hunter,’ amended Whitney. ‘Not for the jaguar.’ ‘Don't talk rot, Whitney,’ said Rainsford. ‘You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?’ ‘Perhaps the jaguar does,’ observed Whitney.” (Connell). Rainsford remarks that he does not care about the feeling of the jaguar. This is ironic because Rainsford himself is later hunted like the jaguar. He then learns the fear and pain of being prey. Rainsford crouches amid the leaves of the tree where he hides and Zaroff watches him from beneath. After Zaroff departs, Rainsford then admits that he knows the full meaning of terror. This quote helps to show parallels the terrors seen in war. "’you’ll find this game worth playing,’ the General said enthusiastically" (Connell). This is ironic because what Zaroff intends to do is hardly a game and instead Rainsford is running from Zaroff for his life, which is definitely not a game that is 'worth playing'. Richard Connell in addition uses irony to show the way that hunting is a game to Zaroff but is in reality a matter of life and death. "Rainsford admires Zaroff's collection of trophy heads, declaring that he believes the Cape Buffalo to be the most dangerous game of all. Zaroff demurs without providing details, suggesting that he has stocked his island with even something far more menacing” (D’Ammassa). Hunting is his main occupation in life, and he is rich enough to indulge himself. Zaroff is the hunter who exists only for the pleasure of the chase and the kill. His interests are selfish, his actions amoral. Zaroff refuses to immediately divulge the nature of the game he hunts, but he insists that he has invented “a new sensation.” Zaroff then tells his host that he had grown bored with hunting because he always

He was able to use “a huge dead tree” that “leaned precariously on a smaller, living one” to build what is called a “Malay mancatcher” (12). While most people would probably just see two trees and walk past them, Rainsford was able to think creatively and put them to effective use. Even though Zaroff did not get caught by it entirely, the hunter was able to buy himself some time to move to a different area so that he could avoid the general. After he went back to treat his injury, Rainsford “took up his flight again” that “carried him on for some hours” (13). His resourceful thinking had allowed him to use even more time to put his plan for winning this life-risking game into action. Without this helpful asset, Rainsford might have been more prone to giving up and letting himself be killed.

He not only hunts humans and kills them for sport, but enjoys doing so. After all, the general only sees humans as beasts to be hunted. Zaroff does not even see his right-hand man, Ivan, as a human being, for he professes here, "Like all his [Ivan's] race, a bit of a savage. He is a Cossack . . . So am I."(Connell 24) This not only displays General Zaroff's opinion of his servant, but his own point of view regarding most human beings. However, General Zaroff does not only exercise every meaning of cruelty in a physical sense, but utilizes it in a psychological sense as well. Because of this psychological warfare that Zaroff wages against Rainsford, he fails to kill Rainsford the first, second, and third night. As an additional note, Zaroff also pushed Rainsford to the point where Rainsford would not give up on taking Zaroff's life, even if it meant that Rainsford would have to stoop to the level of morality known as murder. For an example of this internal game Zaroff plays with Rainsford, Connell wrote, "The general's eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree. . . the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reached the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread over his brown face."(Connell 32) This means that Zaroff knew that Rainsford was there, yet did not kill him for an unspecified reason. Those few actions could be overconfidence, or it could be General

When they start to talk about hunting later, Zaroff talks about how he used to hunt since he was five, and then joined the army years later, hunting more animals as the years went by, until they became too easy for him. Zaroff then talks about an ideal animal, saying, “I wanted the ideal animal to hunt. So i said, what are the attributes to an ideal quarry? and the answer was of course, it must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason,” (8). Another is Zaroff mainly hunts for the wrong reason. When Zaroff has been hunting for most of his life, animals became less of a challenge for him, and decided to hunt for humans. Rainsford, who has also been hunting for a long time, was doing so to publish books and tell stories of what he’s done. Later on while they talk about hunting the next day, while Rainsford accused Zaroff for murder, Zaroff is endangering basically innocent sailors, and explains, “Sometimes and angry god of the high seas sends them to me.” When he turned on the lights to show Rainsford, he explains, “They indicate a channel, where there’s none; giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws. They have crush a ship as easily as crush this nut,” (9). So he uses a machine which no one could see, then crush the ship to bring them on to the

In The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is shown as insane, intelligent, and competitive. Zaroff is shown to be insane in the story when he admits he hunts and kills human. “Why should I not be serious? I am speaking of hunting.” “Hunting?

Rainsford responds by saying, “‘Hunting? Great Guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder’” (Connell 12). Rainsford confronts Zaroff about his game he has created and tells him that it’s murder, and nothing but murder, to go hunt people like that.

The General believes that he can outperform any animal on earth, “No thrill left in tigers, no real danger. I live for danger”, the General says. The danger that General Zaroff lives for is no longer present in any animal. The danger that the General lives for is the danger in humans. He says that hunting another man is “the most exciting hunting in the world.”

General Zaroff is ruthless in his hunt. He hunts sparingly with his prey, dangerous prey. ‘“Here in my preserve on this island, he said.” In the same low tone ”I hunt more dangerous game”’ (Cornell 5). Zaroff is ruthless, because he doesn’t care about the animal he cares about the kill. Even though he is ruthless he is bloodthirsty for his

He is a philosopher and shares his view of the world with others; “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong and, if needs to be, taken by the strong.” He imposes his ideology of how the world works. Zaroff looks positively on the cruel and foul acts he committed with reasoning: “I assure you, I do not do the things you suggest… I treat these visitors with every consideration…” He justifies his acts and tries to convince Rainsford that he is right. He makes it sound like he is not setting his victims to their deaths and that it is all fun and games. However he puts it, Zaroff is still an evil yet ingenious mass