The Lord Of The Flies: Plot Outline

Hunting big game animals for sport was a popular pastime with the wealthy classes following World War I. The morality of killing for sport was not questioned in reality, but in this short story the author does question it by taking it a step further and having the protagonist, Sangor Rainsford, hunted by the antagonist, General Zaroff.In a short story full of irony, one of the greatest ironies of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is that General Zaroff repeatedly tells Rainsford that he maintains a sense of civilization on his island.

In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” Sanger Rainsford kills General Zaroff, most believe that Rainsford after that leaves but he stays behind and continues Zaroff’s regime because of his darkness and his lack of empathy. Towards the end of the story Zaroff thinks that he has won the game but Rainsford appears in his room that night, Zaroff startled says, “‘I congratulate you... you’ve won the game’” to which Rainsford replies “‘I am still a beast at bay... Get ready General Zaroff’” (213). Rainsford had a clear chance to get off the island like he had in the beginning of the story but he doesn’t take it.

When Rainsfords finds out that General Zaroff likes to hunt humans, he feels very shocked. Rainsfords what's to get off the island before he gets 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

Although, the only way Zaroff allowed was to take part in his game or get turned over to Ivan. Rainsford prepares for the hunt and on the following day they set out into the jungle. During the hunt, he makes many traps such as false trails, a Malayan mancatcher, a covered pit of wooden stakes, and a knife tied to a sapling. Throughout the hunt, Rainsford becomes creative of using his resources and figures out how to trick the mind of others. For the trail, Zaroff found Rainsford pretty quickly but wanted to enjoy the hunt so he lets him go. The Malay mancatcher only injures Zaroff’s shoulder but usually kills, which made the hunt harder. The wooden stakes trap kills one of Zaroff's best dogs, impressing Zaroff of Rainsford’s skills but makes sure he needs to improve ending Rainsford because that dog was really important to him. The knife tied to the sapling kills Ivan however, Zaroff’s has little to no care of losing his guard rather than losing his best hunting tool. During the hunt, Rainsford and Zaroff trade places of who is the hunter and the huntees. Rainsford fully experiences the fear of being hunted when being held at the edge of the cliff by dogs. He pants ”Nerve, nerve, nerve” ( Connell 14 par. 7) struggling trying not to get killed. Rainsford finally jumps off the cliff and swims around the island to get back to the chateau because it was quicker than walking through. When Zaroff

Being lost in an island, hungry, and tired is not an everyday thing. So Rainsford being in that situation, had no other choice than except Zaroff’s generosity. Zaroff gave Rainsford clothes, food and, a place to sleep. Zaroff tells Rainsford to join him for dinner, and Rainsford went to the dinner room as told. Sitting down eating there meal. The two men’s starts a conversation and starts to talk about their lives. Zaroff learns a lot of things about Rainsford and so does Rainsford. Rainsford learns that Zaroff is a smart man and a hunter just like him, but Zaroff him hunting people is part of things that he hunts for. Zaroff on another hand learns that Rainsford is a pretty smart, educated man and lastly a hunter.4

Rainsford is disgusted and sickened at the fact that General Zaroff’s idea of hunting means hunting humans. In return for his passage off the island Zaroff forces Rainsford to participate in his hunting game where he is the hunter and Rainsford is the prey. The main characters,

General Zaroff talks to Rainsford about how hunting is his only passion in life, how he has hunted every big game animal in the world, how hunting animals started to get boring. Then Zaroff talks about how he came up with a new animal to hunt, the human. “ The smile on the general's face widened, To date, I have not lost.” The quote talks about how Zaroff is so cocky, being a braggart about how he has never lost and how he never fails, proofing his overconfidence and arrogance. The General has a hard time tracking Rainsford.

While discussing ambition the character Frank Underwood once said: “For those of us climbing the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted” (Frank Underwood in House of Cards). In “The Most Dangerous Game,” written by Richard Connell, General Zaroff strives to be the world’s preeminent hunter. Once his typical hunting game began to bore him, Zaroff developed a new stock for the island. After luring in his new prey, General Zaroff prepares the men for his competition. To begin his game, Zaroff unleashes the quarry and gives them time to scatter amongst the island. Then, he uses his devious ways to terminate his opponents. Throughout “The Most Dangerous Game,” General Zaroff embodies the idea of hunt or be hunted through his captivating, astute and malevolent ways.

This conflict further develops through the hero’s journey archetype and later reveals the theme as the problem is solved. In addition, Richard Connell conveys Rainsford’s initial refusal to confront the problem during the Refusal of the Call, instead telling the general, “ ‘I wish to leave this island at once’ ”(10) and “I will not hunt”(10). Rainsford’s refusal to take part in the general’s sick practice is a natural reaction, and humanizes the character for the reader. The Refusal of the Call is an important aspect of the exposition, because it allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the character and make it easier later on to learn the same lesson Rainsford would. Even as Rainsford refuses the call, General Zaroff gives him encouragements and tries to coax him into participating in his hunt, foreshadowing that Zaroff himself would be Rainsford’s Experience with Unconditional Love in the Initiation Stage. Furthermore, in the final third of the Departure Stage, the Beginning of the Adventure, Mr. Connell reveals that the hunt had begun, and that “Rainsford had fought his way through the bush for two hours” (11). The Beginning of the Adventure marks the first event in the rising action of the story, when Rainsford accepted the call and ventured into the unknown wilderness. This section of the archetype is the reason for every other action in the archetype—Rainsford attempting to achieve his goal of not being hunted, overcoming his conflict

In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” the author, Richard Connell, does an outstanding job of portraying the bizarre adventure of an insane, however experienced hunter, General Zaroff. The protagonist, Rainsford, another experienced hunter from New York City, appears on General Zaroff’s island, explores, and eventually encounters with Zaroff. They introduce themselves, settle down, and begin to talk. During the talk with the general, Rainsford soon learns that the General was not only a hunter; but a murderer as well. Zaroff has lured and ceased many sailors to his island to play a game. Although, they did not hunt with the General, the General hunted them! Zaroff claimed that hunting “had become too easy”, therefore, hunting began

How would it feel to suddenly go from being the hunter to becoming the prey? That is exactly what happened to Rainsford, one of the main characters in The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. Rainsford was a big game hunter who accidentally fell of of his yacht. He swam to a nearby island, and there he met General Zaroff, a cruel man who hunts humans for sport. In exchange for release from the island, Rainsford agrees to be hunted by Zaroff. Consequently, Rainsford is a survivor because he kills Zaroff and wins the game. Rainsford is also a survivor because he demonstrates the qualities that a person must have to be considered a survivor. Although Rainsford is a survivor, Zaroff is not. To be considered a survivor, a person must go through a traumatic or life-threatening experience but still demonstrate resilience and determination.

Lastly, for my third plot example General Zaroff was trying to kill Rainsford because humans were his new big game. Zaroff tries to kill Rainsford, but really he is the one who ends up dying at the end, not Rainsford. Richard Connell uses dialogue to highlight how Rainsford and Zaroff are talking about how only one of them are going to die and the another will live happily on the bed. “Rainsford, how did you get here?” “ I swam, it was quicker than walking through the jungle.” “I congratulate you, you win the game.” “I am still a hunted animal.” “ Get ready General Zaroff.” “I see, splendid! One of us will be a meal for the dogs the another will sleep in this excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford.” (Connell pg 22) This helps to see that General was being rude by trying to kill Rainsford for his game. Also he didn’t care what

As Mr. Rainsford tried day and night to outwit General Zaroff, he found himself growing with the knowledge that eventually he would have to take General Zaroffs’ life if he wanted to survive. Thats exactly what he did. Mr. Rainsford was able to pull of the unthinkable and murder General Zaroff in a cruel and violent way, but it gave him the reward of

Rainsford, the main character, fell off his boat and swam ashore a mysterious island. When he arrived he came across a fortress of sorts, and meet the man incharge, General Zaroff. Zaroff is talking to Rainsford about his past and the island he lives on. Zaroff tells Rainsford about his hunting experiences when he says “Hunting was beginning to bore me! And hunting, remember, had been my life(33).” This is when Zaroff’s internal conflict arises, suffers from ennui in hunting and wants something more of a challenge to kill. He has been hunting for as long as he can remember and every beast he has faced, he overcame and killed it, until there was no animal he couldn’t kill. This is what caused Zaroff to want a challenge, something that . “‘must have courage, cunning and, above all, it must be able to reason.