Animals In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, the protagonist character, Sander Rainsford is an adventurous and fearless big game hunter. Rainsford has no remorse for his prey. Over the course of the story Rainsford experiences a sudden change of heart when he finds himself where “The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees.”

Humans have been hunting for over 1.8 million years. Early humans were omnivores and hunted large animals. Not much has changed, as we still hunt today. In this story, it is a whole different game though...they hunt human beings. A main character, General Zaroff, is one of those people that hunts humans. He hunts Rainsford the other main character and is killed. The General’s place is taken by Rainsford. Rainsford becomes the new general of Ship Trap island. There are many theories to explain why this is true like he is more violent throughout the story and he is very similar to General Zaroff.

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.

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.

In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford is terrified to find that General Zaroff is actually a murder. Rainsford is listening intently to the new “species” that General Zaroff is describing as hunt for his game. General Zaroff has a passion and has become obsessed with hunt because it “had been (his) life”, but sadly “hunting was beginning to bore (him)”. He was eager to continue hunting because of how much he enjoyed it. He needed a new way to satisfy himself while still involving himself in hunting. He decided to go to the extremity of killing people to satisfy himself and make him find new excitement in the one hobby that used to be his life and his source of happiness. General Zaroff’s love and passion for hunting cause him to kill and murder because hunting animals was not satisfying him anymore. Rainsford realizes that he is in the presence of a murderer and when General Zaroff is describing how he has found a new hunt for killing Rainsford figures out that “what (General Zaroff) speak of is murder”. While Zaroff is defending himself by saying that he is not murdering, he does not realize that he sounds foolish because he is saying that he has fallen in love with hunting of humans’ The idea that someone is no joke, but General Zaroff thinks “it’s a game”. Consequently, General Zaroff’s dark side comes through because his love for hunting

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.

In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford falls off his boat, and ends up on General Zaroff’s island, known as Ship-Trap Island, and is expected to hunt with him. While at first Zaroff is a fan and becomes a friend of Rainsford’s, they both find out that they have many similarities such as their beliefs, what they have experienced in their lives, and their love for hunting which also has a difference which leads to Zaroff’s misfortune. Both Rainsford and Zaroff will try to get all the fun out of hunting, not knowing or thinking about how an animal, or in Zaroff’s case a person, feels to be hunted. On Rainsford’s yacht, Rainsford discusses with his good friend Whitney who also loves hunting, about how

In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell emphasises external conflict to illustrate General Zaroff's character as an amazing hunter who became arrogant. Specifically, General Zaroff emphasises his arrogance by playing with Rainsford over and over again, letting him live and not pursuing further when he has Rainsford cornered. The first situation that expresses external conflict inflicted by Zaroff, occurs when Rainsford describes how Zaroff clearly knows where Rainsford is yet did not kill him. “Before they could reach the branch where Rainsford lay; A smile fell over his brown face”(24). When Zaroff spares Rainsfords life he gives him and the reader the idea that he thinks he will be able to catch Rainsford easily and wants more time

He cares and doesn't want any lifes to be taken by this gruesome game, including his own. Right before the two hunters partake in the “game”, Rainsford attempts to close with, “Thank you, I’m a hunter, Not a murderer” (Connell, 4). This is stating that he doesn't want to turn into what General Zaroff has become, a murderer. He only takes pleasure in hunting animals, and he directly states this.

In the short story “ The Most Dangerous Game “, Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. In this short story a man named Rainsford was on a ship with a couple men on a island called Ship-Trap. The ship got in a crash in the couple men died then Rainsford heard 3 gun shots so he knew that he wasn’t the only one on the island. Rainsford swims to shore they had a chateau so , he knocks on the door in that’s how he meet General Zaroff ; Shortly General Zaroff tells Rainsford about the game but Rainsford didn’t want apart of the game. Rainsford don’t hunt humans , he was a animal hunter Zaroff disagreed with Rainsford so it became ; Rainsford being the prey and General Zaroff was the predator.

I think this is the message in the story because during the story Rainsford is very proud to be a good hunter, but he didn’t think about the perspective of the animals. He only thinks that hunting is a sport he is passionate about but he doesn’t care about the hundreds of animals that he killed. During the story he gets to experience the other perspective of hunting and he realizes how the animals felt when he was hunting them. Before Rainsford thought that animals had no understanding of pain and death when they were being hunted, but after experiencing being hunted he now knows how the animals felt. I think this is what the author is trying to say to get us to understand there is always a different perspectives of things and how you look at

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.” (John Steinbeck.) In Richard Connel’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” Rainsford will become the next general of Ship Trap Island not because he is power hungry, but because he is fearful. This quote from John Steinbeck is a perfect portrayal of how Rainsford really feels. He is fearful for his life and he still loves the thrill hunting gives him. The book has lead us to believe that Rainsford does not change overtime and in the end of the book he still has the urge to kill for if he didn’t, he would not have killed General Zaroff. He killed General Zaroff because he wanted to. He kills animals because he wants to. If he was to change for the better throughout the book, he would not have killed Zaroff. He is going to take over the island and use it for his ways and continue to hunt humans for sport because that is what he wants to do.

In the story, The Most Dangerous Game, Sanger Rainsford after falling off of his yacht comes upon a seemingly deserted island but comes across a house. Here he meets General Zaroff a fellow hunter, who invites him into his house and is seemingly a gracious host, but soon understands who he really is. Zaroff now bored of hunting predictable creatures decides to hunt the one creature that can reason; humans. Rainsford must now survive for three days while now being the one hunted. Though this story does bring up an idea about the hunter and hunted or even in a deeper sense the oppressor and oppressed; I find a sort of moral criticism with this idea. It applies certain Darwinist idea into our minds that only the stronger survive and that the more powerful side will

Zaroff is the antagonist and he believes to always be the best, the predator, and unbeatable until the tables are turned. Zaroff’s view on hunting is the smarter the game the better. By the same token, the text states, “... It must be able to reason.”(pg.25) This shows that Zaroff’s favorite game is humans because he knows that humans are the only animals that can reason. Zaroff’s conflict in the story is external and also man versus man because he has to go against Rainsford and come out on top. Zaroff is fairly confident about himself as a hunter and has no fear. Similarly, the text states, “You’ll find this game worth playing, said the general enthusiastically.”(pg.28) Consequently, this shows that Zaroff has a big ego and thinks it will