Essay Suspense in "The Most Dangerous Game"

Have you ever read a book that continued to keep you interested in what's going to happen next? You get lost in the book trying to figure out what's going to happen before reading on. This happens often in novels that have a lot of suspense like Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” or Tobias Wolff’s “Hunters In The Snow.” The fact that they both have suspense is often the only similarity people can think of. There are many similarities and differences in them both that get ignored such as similarities and differences in the plot, theme, and characters.

“The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees.” In the short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ which was written by Richard Connell there are two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff. Rainsford thought that General Zaroff wanted to hunt with him when in all reality General Zaroff wanted to hunt him(Rainsford) himself. Richard Connell uses irony, theme and characterization to develop the plot and characters. The use of these literary devices suggests that Connell wanted to make the story more interesting and suspenseful so the reader can enjoy reading it.

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell has been a classic among bookworms looking for a short fix since the 1920s. The story is centered around two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff who are both worthy hunters. When Rainsford stumbles upon Zaroff, he finds himself participating in a new game, the hunt for his life. With eyes glued to the writing, someone may not even notice the discretely placed allusions. The allusions in this story are used to make connections between the text and the reader.

“ The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees,” stated Rainsford in the famous short story, The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell. Connell’s story is a fictional story about man hunting man. His piece of literature was made into a movie later on, and in the movie Rainsford made a very similar statement. However, there were changes made between the short story and movie. The similarities and differences become clear in both the plot and resolution. Although the the literary work and motion picture have much in common, they are also quite different.

Underestimation and cruel actions lead to many things. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell reveals a conflict between the main characters, General Zaroff and Rainsford. Rainsford was to play the most dangerous game created by Zaroff, because the only way to survive, is to win it, otherwise death is the only other option. As demonstrated through the use of personification, symbolism, and repetition in the story, it conveys that one should understand to never underestimate another person and remember that there will always be a consequence for the wicked things that one has done.

In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell expertly exploits foreshadowing and vivid imagery to emphasize danger and suspense. Many authors attempt to do this, but only a small few succeed. Everyone who has stayed up past their bedtime reading a book will tell you, they stayed awake because the book they were reading was filled with suspense. It is suspense that separates the great stories from the good stories. And “The Most Dangerous Game” is definately a great one. By using foreshadowing and utilizing his characters five senses, Connell keeps readers at the edge of their seats, eagerly waiting to find out what comes next.

In Richard Connell's short story, "The Most Dangerous Game';, the use of literary devices, found blended with other literary devices, gives the story an inner meaning. The blending of literary devices effectively expresses the intentions of Connell to present contrast between the antagonist and protagonist points of view. As a result, the reader can gain insight on the good and evil sides of the story to enhance the purpose of his interpretation. "The Most Dangerous Game'; by Richard Connell presents literary devices such as foreshadowing, setting, and irony which reveal the underlying meaning of the story.

Richard Connell’s short story, The Most Dangerous Game, tells the story of a famous hunter named Rainsford, who falls off of a yacht and swims to an island called Ship-Trap Island. While on Ship Trap Island, Rainsford encounters a man named General Zaroff, who began hunting humans on the island after becoming bored of hunting animals. One night, Zaroff announces to Rainsford that he will be the next victim in his hunting game. Zaroff informs Rainsford that if he manages to survive for three days without being killed, then he can leave the island. Throughout the plot of this short story, there is a consistent theme of the world being composed of two classes of people: the hunters and the hunted. General Zaroff and Rainsford both find themselves to be divided into this class system, at various times during the hunting game. In this short story, Connell uses foreshadowing to portray the idea that there are two classes of people in the world: the hunters and the hunted, in relation to Rainsford and Zaroff.

In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell correlates three common literary devices especially well: setting, suspense, and plot. Connell makes use of an appropriate setting, the literary element of suspense, and an interesting plot in order to strengthen the story’s recurring theme of reason versus instinct within humans, and to blur that line between reason and instinct.

In “The Most Dangerous Game”, author Richard Connell uses a variety of literary device to depict the theme. He uses the main character, Rainsford, to be the character which unfolds the theme as he goes through the experience of being treated like a wild animal and becoming the prey of another human for sport. Connell uses three literary devices frequently including foreshadowing, irony and symbolism in order to support the main theme, put yourself in the shoes of the animals you hunt.

I will be comparing the video verion of The Most Dangerous Game to the story.

    Though there are many different moods in the story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” the most common mood was suspense. An example of this is when General Zaroff said, “ what are the attributes of an ideal quarry?...It must have courage, cunning, and above all it must be able to reason.” “But no animal can reason,” objected Rainsford. “My dear fellow,” said the general, “there is one that can.” this is suspenseful because there is only one animal who has courage is cunning and can reason. That animal is a

The setting of the story is dreamlike; the magnitude of Zaroff’s wealth is unrealistic, and the lengths he goes to kill people are unbelievable. He even has a “‘training school… in the cellar’” (Connell 9) where he trains humans to be better prey. This takes the reader away from the real world. The theme that humans lose their innocence with experience and time is nothing new, and affirms conventional views of the world. When Zaroff cites that his “‘whole life has been one prolonged hunt” (Connell 7) as his reason “hunting was beginning to bore [him]” (Connell 7), it re-enforces an overdone theme. There is a strong element of suspense throughout the story, starting with the mentioning of “a God-foresaken place” (Connell 2) and continuing when Rainsford is hiding in a tree and “The general’s eyes had left the ground and were travelling inch by inch up the tree.” (Connell 13). Scenes like this, where the reader does not know what is going to happen next, create a tension and suspense characteristic of commercial fiction. The fanciful setting, commonplace theme, and strong element of suspense make Connell’s story best designated as commercial

When the reader compares this story to the commercial story The Most Dangerous Game, it is apparent that it is more thought out, as the structure of The Most Dangerous Game is ordinary, and does not convey any larger meaning about the story as a whole. It contains dialogue and description, however this is to further the plot instead of illustrating other intricate ideas.

You game?””page 7. The whole story was suspenseful because of the game and how it was all led by chance. This is where the suspense heightens and takes over every other feeling. One of them is going to make it out. This is where realization deemed its ugly head and foreshadows as well as made us realize one of these kids are going to die.