Theme Of Irony In The Most Dangerous Game

People are blessed with the ability and sense to perceive things from another’s eyes, or in other words, from another’s point of view. The tragic part is we often don’t take the opportunity to use this gift. Many times we don’t take into consideration how others may feel until we are put into a similar situation. Rainsford's views on hunting are revealed in the early conversations with Whitney. "The best sport in the world," agreed Rainsford. "For the hunter," amended Whitney. "Not for the jaguar." "Don't talk rot, Whitney," said Rainsford. "You're a big game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?" "Perhaps the jaguar does," observed Whitney. “Bah! They have no understanding" "Even so, I rather think they understand one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death." Therefore, Rainsford hunts only for the sport and has no sympathy for the hunted.

In The Most Dangerous Game there are many accounts of irony and many different ways of thnking from each character. General Zaroff feels that it is okay to hunt people as long as they have a way to just possibly win while Reinsford believes it is an awful idea and morally incprect. Through the entire story General Zaroff talks about how he is the best hunter there is and how he is bored with his normal game, so he started hunting people. The general made Reinsford play this deadly game and against all odds Reinsford wins and kills the general.

The theme basically forms the story. “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- lascars, blacks, Chinese, Whites, Mongrels-a thoroughbred horse or hound is worth more than a score of them.” Rainsford had just discovered what the new animal that general Zaroff wants to hunt. Rainsford was telling the general how he’s a hunter, not a murderer. Then the General said exactly what i just previously quoted. The quote is an example of the author using the theme “violence.” Hunting involves killing things(usually animals) but in this case the general’s new “animal” is a human. Hunting/ killing things is considered violence, therefore one of the main themes in the short story is ‘violence’ because there’s violence all throughout the story. I chose this quote to support theme because of all the violence throughout the whole story. Another important and well known theme in the short story is “things aren't always as they appear”. At the beginning of the story, Rainsford was talking to whitney and said “You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how the jaguar feels?” Richard connell later turns the story and makes Rainsford be in the jaguar's position so now he knows how the jaguar feels. Which shows that things aren't always as they seem because to Rainsford it didn't seem like he was gonna end up in the

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.

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.

Fear is one of the most powerful killers. Fear is a strong emotion, from the thought of danger or pain. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, fear is demonstrated in 3 different ways throughout the story. Rainsford has to fight against his lack of sleep and anxiety in order to beat general Zaroff. Along with fighting himself, Rainsford must compete against Zaroff to stay alive through the strange game. Without the setup of Zaroff’s island, beating Rainsford would be nearly impossible. Therefore, Rainsford has more than just Zaroff to fight off in this story. Without the three major conflicts of man versus nature, man versus man , and man versus himself, this story would not be possible.

The theme of the hunters and the hunted is conveyed throughout this short story. At the beginning of this story, Rainsford says to his friend Whitney, “The world is made up of two classes-the hunters and the hunted” (Connell 40). This quotation sets a path for the rest of the story, as almost everything from the short story reflects upon this idea. From Rainsford’s point of view, his life only revolves around hunting. He

To help illustrate that the direction of perspective from hunter to hunted has changed, Connell uses situational irony. At the beginning of the story, the reader is introduced to the main character of the story, Sanger Rainsford, a world renowned hunter. Rainsford mentions at the beginning of the story: “‘Who cares how a jaguar feels?’ ‘Perhaps the jaguar does,’ observed Whitney. ‘Bah! They’ve no understanding” (Connell 18). This reveals that he believes jaguar do not have emotion when they are prey. Only until he learns that General Zaroff, a hunter living on a big island that Rainsford had washed up on, was hunting humans and his intention is to hunt Rainsford as well. This is ironic because Rainsford is a hunter who is being hunted, allowing him to step into the “shoes” of the jaguar. He is now able to see the other side of the

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.

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 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.

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.

Thus through this experience he began learning about how the animals felt in his previous hunting experiences. During his battle royal fight with the general he had used his experience and knowledge of hunting to catch and kill the general. Consequently he was now violating his own golden rule, loosing his values of not killing humans. Through this action he went through a metamorphosis becoming the “brute”. This newfound outlook lead him learn about what it is like to be the one being hunted. After there continual exchange of mental torment Rainsford enters the main house to murder the general. Something is different though he doesn’t stop when the general said “you have won” he doesn’t care anymore, he just wants to kill him. We can see this when Rainsford says “I am still a beast at bay”. We can see that the use of the language technique of dramatic irony is empathetic towards this scene. The use of this technique shows us that he (who was the hunter of the beast) has now become the beast in the hunt. This emphasizes the idea that Rainsfords experiences of being hunted has changed him and shows how Connell was trying to express the idea that your experiences shape you, and how you learn from it will shape who you are. We can also see how Connells message about learning and experience is expressed through the use of the language technique of metaphor. We can see that this use of metaphor shows us how he has become a “beast”. Through this it

Rainsford, from the beginning, reveals his arrogance to the readers. “This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are the hunters.” (Connell 63). The context is that Rainsford is speaking with Whitney and he believes that the animals have a sense of understanding and fear, but Rainsford does not. Rainsford is impudent towards his friend by criticizing his beliefs. He is moreover conceited when he places himself in the higher class of society. The protagonist is being insensitive to Whitney and to the living, fearful animals, commencing the separation from morality, shown throughout this short story. The antagonist, General Zaroff, numerously illustrates his hubristic personality.

At first ,Rainsford does not seem to consider how his prey feels and says, “ Who cares how a jaguar feels?” to his friend Whitney(Connell 1). Later, he tells readers that society only has “hunters and the huntees,” and he believes that he is a hunter (Connell 1). When Rainsford ends up on the island, Zaroff forces him to become prey, so the situational irony amuses me; the readers expect Rainsford to go off on a hunt as the predator. However, he ends up as Zaroff’s prey. Connell’s use of irony cautions readers to always consider both sides of a story and to beware of what we