The Theme Of The Most Dangerous Game

In The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, Rainsford learns a very important lesson about assuming. Rainsford was a hunter that said that it doesn’t matter if he and Whitney hunt the jaguar because the jaguar doesn’t really know what is happening. Later in the story, Rainsford finds out what it really feels like as a huntee’s and realizes that he should not have assumed the feelings of the animal. As Connell said on page 55, “Don’t talk rot, Whitney,” said Rainsford. “You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher, who cares how a jaguar feels?” Some hunters believe this as well, unless they’re like Rainsford.

It had been a week since Rainsford managed to kill the nefarious General Zaroff. The challenging part was almost over or so it seemed. There was not a clear way for Rainsford to escape. As days passed, Rainsford tried to escape. He tried making a boat from driftwood that he found, he tried swimming, he even tried sending a signal by using a flashlight. Rainsford had become so desperate that he even tried some ridiculous plans like trying to pole vault across the ocean. As a result, Rainsford ended up having huge gashes in his left leg ,which got infected, and he had to amputate it. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, Rainsford had lost hope and became bitter.

Hope is like a river of life, keeping hope makes the river flow, while giving up hope makes a drought of death. Having and keeping hope is important, without it, one isn’t safe. This is expressed thoroughly in many stories. The short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell, is about Rainsford, a renowned big game hunter, getting trapped on an island where General Zaroff, another hunter, is in charge. General Zaroff believes that animals are too easy to catch, that they bore him. Leading him to invent a new sport to hunt, being humans as what he hunts. Forcing Rainsford to hunt with him, General Zaroff sets him on his way, giving him a head start. Throughout the story, Rainsford fights the urges to give up, but thanks to his perseverance, Rainsford does not lose hope. Resulting in him overcoming the hunt, and beating General Zaroff, he stays safe. In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” the theme of keeping hope can keep one safe is found throughout the story in the thoughts and actions of the characters.

Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" is a very exciting story of a manhunt. This story made me think about the morality of hunting: Humans are the cleverest creatures on earth, but does it give them a license to kill the other animals and even human beings weaker than themselves? I give below a short summary of the story to set the scene and then I will explore the ethics involved in hunting as a sport. "The Most Dangerous Game" presents the story of a hunter, General Zaroff, who finds hunting human beings as the most dangerous and fascinating sport.

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.

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.

In order to emphasize his recurring theme of reason versus instinct, Connell first sets the scene for the story’s setting, the setting Connell chooses for “The Most Dangerous Game” fits exceptionally well alongside both the story’s plot, as well as, its literary element of suspense. By introducing the idea of a mysterious island at the very start of the story

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.

Between the movie and story in “The Most Danger Game” there several things that are taken and some added. When they added the Lady in it made the story more interesting. It was more suspenseful because it felt she was slowing Rainsford down and you weren’t sure if they would get killed. An omission that took away from the story was that Ivan did not hold the gun to Rainsford’s heart in the beginning. So Rainsford did not know what was coming until later and it was not as suspenseful during the beginning of the story. These additions did effect the theme it made it even more known that animals feel pain and fear when hunted.

Rainsford woke up to the booming sinfony of dozens of hungry hunting hounds and a satisfied look soon materialized on his face. With a prolonged yawn, he rose sleepily from the luxurious bed to find the body of General Zaroff staring blankly at the ceiling. He was the hunter, his hunter, that he had just murdered. Rainsford realised he had finally and truly won the most dangerous game. He remembered what the Cossack had said before their fight, “One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed.” Rainsford silently walked over to the window and gazed down towards the dogs below. As if know what Rainsford was thinking, the hounds barked viciously at him, salivating at their mouths. He ceremoniously picked up the still body of General Zaroff and threw him out the window with a crash! He put a fresh pair of clothes on while listening to the now satisfied canines eat their meal. determined he needed to get

‘’One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard Rainsford.’’

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.

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.

One of the darker actions examined in this unit takes place in "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. In this short story, General Zaroff begins hunting a man lost on his island named Rainsford. Bored of the usual game, General Zaroff decides he wants something more exciting and chooses to prey on humans. This ill-judged decision has a domino effect on the plot, ultimately ending in the demise of Zaroff. Nonetheless, an alternate ending besides death could have very well been a possibility. Perhaps, instead of hunting humans, Zaroff decides to open a hunting camp to share his passion for the sport with others. Obviously, his boredom is caused by the island's isolation from society. So, Zaroff could have built homes and started a community or decide to leave the island altogether. Then, the course of this story would have taken a completely different path. Maybe, Zaroff finds a wife, they have children and live happily ever after. If only he was able to overcome his dark side instead of letting it consume him.