Fiction Essay
ENGL 102: Composition and Literature
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THESIS: In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, imagery and characterization are employed to illustrate the ever present inner darkness of humanity. However, the authors set very different themes in how their protagonists reflect upon and respond to being faced with it. Both men must choose whether they will reject and confront evil or simply abide it with apathy.
I. The dark imagery used in both stories convert evil into a nearly tangible entity. a. The lack of visibility in these stories corresponds to the fear felt by both men. b. The dense jungle/forest instills a sense of chaos that
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He offers the younger his staff to help speed his pace (Hawthorne, 264). He even shares a jolly banter with Goody Cloyse, an elderly woman whom young Goodman Brown recognizes, and likewise, offers his staff to aid her (Hawthorne, 266). Old Goodman Brown also gives an articulate counter for every argument young Goodman Brown has to cut their walk short and return home. For example, when young Goodman Brown boasts the honesty and goodness of his father and grandfather, the traveler responds that “I have been well acquainted with your family… They were my good friends” (Hawthorne, 264). The fact that young Goodman Brown had never heard of such a communion spoken of in his family is almost convincing to him of its plausibility. Connell also masks General Zaroff’s evil nature with an air of friendliness and respectability. From the moment that Rainsford appears at the front door, the general is welcoming and kind. He gives Rainsford food, shelter, and offers his own clothes for Rainsford to wear (Connell, 4). During the course of their conversation, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford that they are kindred spirits as fellow hunters. Having dominated every prey he has ever stalked, Zaroff has become bored with traditional hunting and extols the merit of a new game that he has devised, “it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world. No other hunting compares with it for an instant” (Connell, 6). The general is sure that, as a
3. Examine the cover of the novel. What images do you see? How do you think the images are connected to the story?
Zaroff is purely unconscious, and has no compassion or remorse for his actions. His demented mind forces him to believe that it is moral to hunt all living creatures, when in reality he is actually murdering a human soul. The general is sadistic as well as arrogant. He is mentally unstable, insane, and he denies the fact that he is committing something as bad as what he is doing. According to General Zaroff, hunting for him has been consumed by boredom and he no longer sees hunting as a challenge. Consequently, he chooses to hunt a certain “creature” with a higher mental stability of the creatures he has hunted before.(Connell 21) As Zaroff became comfortable with Rainsford, he
For example, his bizarreness and ruthlessness are shown when he says “"I had to invent a new animal to hunt,"” (pg12). Zaroff had become bored with hunting animals because he always caught his prey. He introduced his cruel new hunting game as if it were not unusual at all. An illustration, of his unsympathetic and uncivilized characteristics, are when he is telling Rainsford “"I wanted the ideal animal to hunt," explained the general.
Throughout this journal, Zaroff can be characterized as mysterious and evil. First off, Zaroff is mysterious. One way he is mysterious is that he knows Rainsford’s name and he read Rainsford’s hunting book. In the book it says, “I’ve read your book about hunting snow leopards in Tibet…” (Connell 3). This quote shows that Zaroff is interested in hunting dangerous animals and knows that Rainsford is good at hunting
After the General allows small glimpses into his psyche, the fact that he is a disturbed person is temporarily forgotten about as the battle between him and Rainsford begins. In “Hunters in the Snow”, the situation with the shooting occurs early on, but the main focus of the story then transfers to the characters' and their issues for the remainder of the story. Rainsford is the typical hero: He is clever and moral, as opposed to Zaroff who is immoral. Though he claims to be "a beast at bay," Rainsford has now fully reverted to hunter mode, swimming across a small bay to Zaroff's chateau to arrive there before the general can make it back through the jungle.… out the shadowy outlines of a palatial chateau; it was set on a high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived down to where the sea licked greedy lips in the shadows”. Rainsford claims that no animal can reason and when he realizes what Zaroff is doing, he calls it cold-blooded murder. Zaroff retreats to the chateau, assuming he has won the game. The General explains, "hunting was beginning to bore him," and reveals that he had to invent a new animal to hunt, one that must have "courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason. Rainsford survives, winning the game. A story, which relies on action, coincidence and surprise, is precisely the motivation that Connell needs to create a memorable commercial fiction. Rainsford is given the impression that General Zaroff is a wealthy and prominent hunter. "
General Zaroff is clearly not under control with his hunting habits. General Zaroff creates for himself, a dangerous hunting game. More dangerous than all the rest, an animal can reason and feel.This animal is a human. The general has gone over the edge. By following his instincts and making his desires reality, general Zaroff now has access to this dangerous game. He hunts and kills them with a pistol, disregards their feelings, and treats them like animals. Some people, such as Rainsford, have decided that obeying the law and sticking to the principles is better than following nature. Rainsford says,“Thank you, I'm a hunter not a murderer.” Rainsford chooses to be civil and lawful. Rainsford quite obviously has more control over his actions than the general. The general gives into his dark side and gives into his guilty desire to hunt animal that has reason, courage, and cunningness. Rainsford chooses not to because he knows wrong from right. But perhaps, when dealing with your human nature you must succumb to your darkest
D. The chosen interpretation rests on how the narrator’s character is analyzed through her hidden thoughts.
American literature fully captures what it means to be an American through the ages, and, as an American, all of an American’s duty to know where they came from and how they got to where they are today. American Literature provides a great number of well-written works, but this discussion is going to be between, “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard E. Connell and “Young Goodman Brown” authored by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In two of the most well-known short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game” and “Young Goodman Brown”, there are ironic similarities portraying evil between their settings, characterization, and plot.
In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford is terrified to find that General Zaroff is actually a murder. Rainsford is listening intently to the new “species” that General Zaroff is describing as hunt for his game. General Zaroff has a passion and has become obsessed with hunt because it “had been (his) life”, but sadly “hunting was beginning to bore (him)”. He was eager to continue hunting because of how much he enjoyed it. He needed a new way to satisfy himself while still involving himself in hunting. He decided to go to the extremity of killing people to satisfy himself and make him find new excitement in the one hobby that used to be his life and his source of happiness. General Zaroff’s love and passion for hunting cause him to kill and murder because hunting animals was not satisfying him anymore. Rainsford realizes that he is in the presence of a murderer and when General Zaroff is describing how he has found a new hunt for killing Rainsford figures out that “what (General Zaroff) speak of is murder”. While Zaroff is defending himself by saying that he is not murdering, he does not realize that he sounds foolish because he is saying that he has fallen in love with hunting of humans’ The idea that someone is no joke, but General Zaroff thinks “it’s a game”. Consequently, General Zaroff’s dark side comes through because his love for hunting
Connell first demonstrates the General’s proud heart on page seventy. There is a conversation between Rainsford and General Zaroff and Rainsford starts with the question, “But the animal, General Zaroff? Oh, it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world… But no animal can reason, … there is one that can. But you can’t mean - And why not?” The General is referring that he resulted into hunting humans. Earlier, he expresses how this sport was becoming tedious and needed something that can reason, which no animal can do, except humans; without reluctance, he turns to them to fulfill his personal needs. General Zaroff is a part of World War I before he returns to hunting. Because of his experiences in the war, he believes that it is acceptable to murder human beings out of pleasure, while Rainsford disagrees. Overall, General Zaroff is betraying his egotistic side by being willing to kill humans for his
There are lots of great short stories out there, but in my opinion, both ‘Chemistry’ by Graham Swift and ‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl are two of the most unique and effective stories. They share both similarities and differences throughout. Comparing and contrasting the way the authors use their inimitable writing style to achieve their intentions in the story will give us more idea how these stories are alike and distinct.
When Henry returns, he has no desire to ride in the red convertible, no desire to wear the bright colored clothes he used to dawn-- instead Henry just liked to sit around and sob about the war. The quote from the middle of the story, speaking about the television, and how Henry just sat “in front of it, watching it, and that was the only time he
place nearly forty years apart. After a second read, however, it was easy to notice a distant
There are lots of great short stories out there, but in my opinion, both ‘Chemistry’ by Graham Swift and ‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl are two of the most unique and effective stories. They share both similarities and differences throughout. Comparing and contrasting the way the authors use their inimitable writing style to achieve their intentions in the story will give us more idea how these stories are alike and distinct.
“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex tale with many hidden meanings and themes. Hawthorne uses literary devices to propel his story further into speculation of the unknown world. In his essay, Fogle uses examples of irony and symbols of opposites to convey the mystery behind Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” Without both ambiguity and clarity, the story would not portray an atmosphere of doubt which is at the core of Hawthorne’s tale.