Hunters believe animals are not capable of reasoning and they see them as something lesser than humans. Throughout time, these positions can change. The short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell, consists of General Zaroff being the hunter and Rainsford being the hunted. During the story, their positions change to the complete opposite. Throughout the story the reader sees how Zaroff “plays” with Rainsford as he hunts him and not once does Zaroff think he will lose to Rainsford. This is a clear example of the theme to never underestimate your opponent skills or the underdog may overtake you. Connell illustrates this theme through foreshadowing, irony, and, man vs. man. To help us visualize, foreshadowing shows how Rainsford, being the underdog, will overtake Zaroff who underestimates Rainsford. Although Rainsford is not seen as being the weaker link, Rainsford showed he did not pity those below him: “‘Who cares how a jaguar feels all they understand is fear.’ - ‘Even so, I rather think they understand one thing--fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.’”(Connell 18) By reading the theme the reader can infer the position Rainsford is in will drastically change. Although, Rainsford is not overtaken by the jaguar but it is General Zaroff that surpasses him. The part of the story when Rainsford asks if Ivan is Russian.... The reader now knows General Zaroff is not a mere hunter but he is out to …show more content…
But we should also never underestimate ourselves and never hold ourselves back. Rainsford represents the part of us, focused and does not give up on his goal because it is to difficult. Although General Zaroff represents the dark or extreme side of us, not showing pity towards others, becoming lazy, and inferring Rainsford has died therefore not caring about his
General Zaroff’s attractive and handsome presence hides his evilness from Rainsford as he enjoys the general’s assistance and attention. The general makes
Rainsford is a witty and caring character. The passion Rainsford has, devotes his entire life to hunting, but Zaroff obsession is much more extreme, Zaroff was
Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror.” ( 573-575) This little event gives the reader a sense of mystery. It shows that Zaroff is a better hunter than Reinsford thought, which makes him lose hope, and rattles him.. This event also adds to the challenge of survival in this life-or-death chase.
The Most Dangerous Game In the story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, written by Richard Connell there is a man named Sanger Rainsford. He is cast away off a yacht that he fell off. When he is cast away he gets on the island and falls into a deep sleep and wakes up in one day. When he wakes up he starts exploring the island.
Zaroff admits that he has read Rainsford 's book, and helps Rainsford understand that he carefully created the game on the island. "I 've read your book about hunting snow leopards in Tibet, you see," explained the man. "I am General Zaroff." page 221. Zaroff made Rainsford uncomfortable by seeming suspicious.
In the short story The Most Dangerous Game, the author Richard Connell shows that Rainsford needs control of his emotions, patience , and expert hunting and decision making skills in order to defeat Zaroff. Rainsford needs to gain control of his emotions to outthink Zaroff, who symbolizes Rainsfords "steep hill". When he finds that he is going to be hunted his natural instinct is to run and panic, but then he stops to look around and get a grip on the task at hand. Then at a critical moment when Zaroff finds him in a tree, Rainsford panics again because he realizes Zaroff is on his trail and is toying with him. Once again, he gains control of his emotions and formulates a plan.
To begin with, in “The Most Dangerous Game” Zaroff has unfair advantages compared to the people he is hunting. On page 26 it says,” I give him a supply and an excellent hunting knife. I give them three hours to start. I am to follow, armed with only a pistol of the smallest caliber and range.”
As he explains to Whitney aboard the yacht, “They’ve [animals] no understanding” and further comments, “Who cares how a jaguar feels?” (1). Rainsford is an uncaring hunter who kills for sport, much like the general he will later meet. In Rainsford’s opinion, “The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees . . .” and he is proud to classify himself as a hunter (1).
This is said by Rainsford in the beginning of the story. Rainsford thought more about himself then he did the animals he was hunting. He never cared about the prey he took down. Zaroff becomes the hunter that is hunting Rainsford. This conflict gives Rainsford a taste of his own medicine.
Get ready, General Zaroff!” (Connell 20). To conclude, Connell uses irony to show that Rainsford used his skills to
Firstly, in the story The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford is justified in killing General Zaroff because on the island the only way to live is if the stranded people hunt or the stranded will in contrast become the ones being hunted. In the beginning of the story Rainsford is talking to Whitney about jaguars. Whitney is stating that the jaguars must feel some sort of feeling like fear or terror but in contrast Rainsford states that the jaguars have no understanding of feelings. Then Rainsford is put on a island where he symbolically represents the jaguar and General Zaroff would symbolically represent the hunter.
During the story, Zaroff is also crazy. He shows that he is crazy when he is talking to Rainsford about how hunting humans is perfectly fine. “‘Oh,’’ said the general, “it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world’’ (Connell 72). Zaroff shows that he is crazy during this scene because he is literally trying to explain why there is nothing wrong with killing humans. Lastly, Zaroff is also overconfident in the story.
”(The Most Dangerous Game) This shows that Rainsford has learned the theme of the story because when he says that he is saying that he is still a trapped animal that has to fight back. This shows that he now knows how it felt to be hunted, and to be trapped and having to fight back and take risks to survive. Before the events that occurred in the story Rainsford had no idea how the animals felt and didn’t care how they felt, but after those events he knew how they felt and thought while being hunted and definitely cared about how they felt because he knew how much it hurt
Furthermore, if you underestimate your opponent, you will not perform your personal best. This could result in something very dreadful happening. In the story, one of the main characters, Rainsford felt that it was acceptable to hunt jaguars. In his opinion, “The world is made up of two classes the hunters and the huntees (Connell 216)”. As a result of his wrong opinion, the tables turn in the story and Rainsford becomes the one being hunted.
The uncertainty of the result of conflicts between Rainsford and nature make the reader feel suspenseful of this conflict. Another conflict presented throughout the story is man vs himself. This is the internal conflict between Rainsford and himself. He is fearful of how the game will end and what his next move will be. One reason he has an internal conflict is because Rainsford can not afford to make any mistakes and this puts him under a lot of stress and fear.