Similarities Between Rainsford And General Zaroff

Rainsford seems more kind than Zaroff and would not kill humans for pleasure. Rainsford thinks that the world is made up of two groups, the hunters and the hunted. He does not care about how the hunted feel until he becomes the hunted. But as he realizes what it feels like to be the hunted his perspective changes. He ends up becoming a better person because of this experience. After being the hunted, he takes more though into agreeing with what Whitney said in the beginning which was that animals may actually have feelings.

Rainsford doesn’t just go through external conflicts he also goes through internal conflicts which show some of his character traits. Rainsford is faced with an internal conflict, a decision either participate in Zaroff's devious game or to be handed over to Ivan. “The Choice rest entirely with you. But may I not

Rainsford keeps his hope in the beginning when he thought that hunting other people was not humanly and considered murder. When Rainsford sets off to hide from being hunted, his initial objective is to get as far away as possible from General Zaroff, “Rainsford had fought his way through the bush for two hours. ‘I must keep my nerve. I must keep my nerve,’ he said through tight teeth” (Connell 16). Rainsford repeats that he must keep his nerve,

(6)This quote shows determination because even though he is being hunted by a human who possesses craziness, Rainsford remains calm and calms himself down which shows that he will not give up easily. (7)Possessing determination Rainsford decides to play in the game and decides not to run away while he fights in the forest. (8)Supporting this detail, Connell provides the quote “…Rainsford crouching there, could not see the general, nor could he see the pit. He lived a year in a minute” (Connell pg. 13). (9)This quote proves the determination within Rainsford because he stays right in the spot he hides in, instead of running from the challenge that Zaroff presented before him.

Rainsford was stuck. All the General wants in return is for him to pretend that he doesn’t exist in this cruel world. Like a character in a fantasy book.

Rainsford knew that Zaroff was an experienced hunter and in order to succeed he would need to utilize all of the skills he has learned over the years hunting. These skills ultimately helped him to succeed in outsmarting his

This quote shows that Rainsford is insane because during this part, he is saying that he wants to hunt something that can reason with him, and only one animal can do that. That animal is a human. During the story, General Zaroff is also competitive. He shows that he is competitive when he fights to win the game over the humans. He always believes he will win. “If my quarry eludes me for three whole days, he wins the game. If I find him”... “he loses.” (Connell

Rainsford is not a hero due to his egocentric attitude and hypocritical behavior. After Rainsford hears the hounds and sees Ivan and General Zaroff approaching, he then creates a trap to kill General Zaroff. When Rainsford hears the footsteps stop, he looks back at the trap and “[sees] in the shallow valley that General Zaroff was still on his feet. But Ivan was not. The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not wholly failed” (Conell 14). This quote proves that Rainsford does not obtain the qualities of an altruistic and civil being. This is due to Rainsford wanting to kill General Zaroff for his own survival. Furthermore, once Rainsford accidentally kills Ivan, he swims away in refuge from General Zaroff.

Now I understand that the General killed for sport, but, Rainford oversteps his bounds as a person to kill. He is forced to play this “game” of hunting. Rainford tries to get out of killing by asking, ‘"Suppose he refuses to be hunted?" "Oh," said the general, "I give him his option, of course. He need not play that game if he doesn't wish to. If he does not wish to hunt, I turn him over to Ivan…”’ (Connell 9) Later on page eleven, he directly tells Zaroff what he is doing is wrong and he will stop it. ‘“Of course you, in turn, must agree to say nothing of your visit here." "I'll agree to nothing of the kind," said Rainsford.’ (Connell 11) Though Rainford is saving innocent lives by killing the General, what Rainford is doing is wrong. The General even said, "Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth: sailors from tramp ships--lassars, blacks, Chinese, whites, mongrels..." (Connell 8) Is doing something wrong for the right reasons does not mean that it is not wrong? Rainford murders Zaroff without any attack from the general. ‘“The

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

Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. For instance General Zaroff said “Your brain against mine, Your woodcraft against mine.” (Connell 6). This shows that General Zaroff gives right to rainsford to try and outsmart him and try to win by surviving. If rainsford outsmarts him then he will get the victory or he can do what Zaroff wanted to do to him which was kill him. Also Rainsford disagreed when Zaroff told him about the hunting game. “No,General,”he said “I will not hunt.” Then Zaroff basically said he had to or ivan will kill him.(Connell 9).This quote means that Rainsford did not like the idea that he had to stay in a jungle and

Rainsford was justified for killing General Zaroff because what General Zaroff did to Rainsford and the previous sailors wasn't right. When Rainsford and General Zaroff were talking Rainsford told General Zaroff “civilized? And you shoot down men”(connell 3) this quote means that General Zaroff has hunted other sailors before.

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

Rainsfords is panicked and running for his life, he's also scared of what General Zaroff will do to him when he catches him. Rainsfords force himself towards the gap between these two trees. He got closer to gap to see open water, and then he went to for it, he jumped. ‘“I am still a beast at bay, Rainsfords said, in a low hoarse voice, Rainsfords said this after he jumped off the cliff and swam back to the land. As he swam back he seen a big house, he walked closer to it and seen General Zaroff.

Not only does he easily find Rainsford on the first day, the general also has excellent reflexes. As declared by Connell, Zaroff had "the sureness of a bloodhound . . . [the] agility of an ape"(Connell 33) When it came to reflexes and observation, General Zaroff was in a league of his own. As a result, this begs the question: why does this lead to his defeat? A flaw that commonly spawns from brilliance is overconfidence and the boredom of being forever unequaled. A lack of challenge, if you will. Of course, the general had plenty of both. Because the general had gotten so bored of hunting because there was no longer a challenge, he sought out new prey. This would not be a such an inconvenience if Zaroff had only been