Most Dangerous Game Theme

Some stories do not have many different conflicts in the story. For example, in “Little Red Riding Hood” there is only one conflict which is Man vs Wolf or Man vs Man, but in some stories like “The Most Dangerous Game” there are all three conflicts throughout the book. Having more conflicts gives the story a bigger theme of suspense. In “Little Red Riding Hood”, the only conflict is getting to her grandma’s house where in “The Most Dangerous Game” there are many different conflicts that give the story more suspense and make it more interesting. Furthermore, there are many examples of conflicts in the short story.

Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous explains multiple theories, such as nature versus nurture, and survival of the fittest. This short story also seems to have an underlying theme of Social Darwinism (Of Two Classes). Throughout the entirety of the short story, Connell shows a character change of a main character, Rainsford, who is at a constant battle with General Zaroff, the antagonist. This character change shows the importance of the mindset of characters, and how it can be applied to everyday life.

In the story The Most Dangerous Game one conflict is man vs nature. Rainsford is fighting nature because he is on a ship and he came across an island. Rainsford falls overboard and has to swim for safety. “All he knew was that he was safe from his enemy, the sea and the other was weariness on him”. In order to survive rainsford hast to swim to the island and find shelter. In the conflict man vs nature this shows Rainsford bravery.

"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 it.

“The Most Dangerous Game” is a very good story with a lot of suspense and foreshadowing. The story plot is about an experienced hunter, Rainsford, who falls off of a yacht in the middle of the Caribbean, and finds himself on a small island. He then goes to seek shelter and finds a mansion, where he meets another hunter named Zaroff who was tired of hunting because it wasn’t challenging enough for him. To resolve his issue, he decides to hunt something different, humans. Soon after, the two begin hunting each other. After many traps set, and shots fired, the hunt is finally over, with Rainsford coming out victorious.

Imagine turning up on an island with a psychotic man, a man who hunts humans. This is what General Zaroff does, on Ship-Trap-Island. General Zaroff is a rich hunter who hunts most animals, even the most dangerous. This is the story written by Richard Connell, called The Most Dangerous Game, It is about a psychotic man with a hunting obsession. Once Zaroff gets bored with the hunting animals he turns to something new, humans. The author thinks that hunting is normal, that people have a killer instinct. That it is our human nature to hunt, and kill. The author also thinks that it is human nature to look for new challenges and to live strong. Much like Zaroff, the author believes life, is for the willing.

Presumption of one’s character, lifestyle, or troubles in life is taken from looking at that person and assuming you know all about them. In order to fully understand someone’s pain, you must endure it in their shoes. This is the theme for the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” written by Richard Connell. As Rainsford, the main character of the short story, tries to survive in the wild from a psychotic general who hunts humans as game, the reader sees his change in perspective on what it feels to be hunted. This demonstrates the theme of the short-story through the use of situational irony, man vs. man conflict, and internal conflict.

A man gets hunted by another man on the deserted Ship-Trap Island in the middle of the Caribbean. Rainsford, the protagonist in “The Most Dangerous Game”, a short story written by Richard Connell, gets hunted by General Zaroff. Rainsford abounds with fear, making him crazy. General Zaroff’s arrogance causes him to feel that he possesses the right to hunt the people he captures. His arrogance causes him to commit gruesome things; in this case, murder. Prior to becoming another man’s prey, Rainsford feels that animals have no feelings, but he sympathizes for animals being hunted after he himself becomes prey. His feelings and opinions transform after this experience. “The Most Dangerous Game” consists of three central themes: fear makes an individual crazy, arrogance causes hurtful actions, and some experiences have the potential to alter an individual’s opinion.

At the beginning of the story Rainsford is talking to Whitney about how a jaguar cannot feel anything and is only an animal to be hunted and killed, by the end of the book Rainsford has become the huntee and now feels the true fear of being hunted.

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.

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

In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game”, readers learn that you never know how someone feels until your out into their shoes. In life you don’t know how someone feels until your put into a similar situations. For example if someone is getting made fun of and then someone else is getting made fun of both of these kids know how it feels. In Richard Connell story it takes place at Ship Trap Island where the protagonist Sanger Rainsford fights the antagonist General Zaroff. Rainsford doesn’t believe that animals don’t have emotions and don’t feel pain but when Rainsford is being hunted by Zaroff a tattented hunter Rainsford starts to realize that animals do have feel pain and they also have emotions. Richard Connell used foreshadowing, irony, and dialogue to show that Rainsford realizes that animals do have emotions and feel pain.

The underlying content of “The Most Dangerous Game” relies on a sense of fear and a human’s reaction to a perilous situation. Fear can be defined as “response to physical and emotional danger” (Psychology Today). This instinctual reaction allows humans to protect themselves when in dangerous situations (Psychology Today).

The story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell has a theme of expecting the unexpected. This theme is developed through rainsford’s and the general's action. THis can be seen in the line, “‘Rainsford!’ screamed the general. ’How in God’s name did you get here?’”

Fantasy is a non realistic story that transcend the bound reality, ultimately creating a fictional story. Elements such as the plot, setting, characters, theme need to be altered so the the story can be a fantasy. The plot of the story usually revolves around a protagonist that needs to finish its quest. Setting tend to be a landscape or creature cannot exist in the real world, as well for characters that do not follow law of nature and do as they feel. In the “most Dangerous games” by Richard Connell the plot of the story follows event of Rainsford the protagonist who fell off a ship and washed ashore on a deserted island, which is occupied by a hunters that kills humans.