The Most Dangerous Game

Madiha Zehra English 12 Ms. Mar March 17th 3013 The Most Dangerous Game Analysis 1. “The Most Dangerous Game” Richard Connell 2. Characterization: Sanger Rainsford: is the protagonist. Sanger Rainsford, is an adventurous big-game hunter who confronts the nature of life and death for the first time in his life during his few frightening days on Ship-Trap Island. Calm and composed, Rainsford coolly handles any challenge, be it falling overboard in the middle of the night or having to swim several miles to reach the shore. Only during Zaroff’s relentless final pursuit does Rainsford truly feel fear and his own primal instinct to survive. Connell suggests that Rainsford now empathizes with the creatures he has hunted in the past, it is uncertain whether he will discontinue hunting in the future. On one hand, Rainsford could possibly abandon hunting altogether or at least approach it with a new respect for his prey. Conversely, Rainsford’s ability to sleep so soundly after killing Zaroff may suggest that he has become even more ruthless or hasn’t undergone any significant transformation at all.
General Zaroff: Antagonist; Zaroff considers himself a god who can snuff out life as he pleases. Zaroffs’s madness stems from a life of wealth, luxury, and militarism, which inflate his ego and sense of entitlement and impose few limits on his desires. Zaroff began hunting at an early age when he shot his father’s prized turkeys and continually sought out bigger game. His bloodlust and passion for hunting eventually prompted him to hunt men, the most cunning and challenging prey he could find. Accustomed to death, General Zaroff lost the ability to distinguish men from beasts, suggesting that he has slipped into barbarism and lost his humanity. Connell describes Zaroff’s sharp pointed teeth and smacking red lips to dehumanize him and highlight his predatory nature. 3. Setting
The story is set in an abandoned island, on which many sailors are scared to go to. It is set in the past because the story stated that the characters have fought in the world wars. 4. Plot
Rainsford and Whitney are on the boat, talking about the mysterious island that they were passing. Than later that night Rainsford falls off the boat and runs into Zaroff. Zaroff hunts people and sends him into the jungle, while the hunt is going on Rainsford jumps off the cliff. Than right after Rainsford appears in Zaroffs bedroom, and they have a big fight, Rainsford wins the game. 5. Point of View
Third Person Limited.

6. Conflict
Man vs. Man, because Rainsford verses Zaroff’s
Man vs. Society because Rainsford has to work against nature that has put him through this. 7. Ending
The ending is happy kind of ironic way, because Rainsford the protagonist wins the game in the end. 8. Theme
The main theme is that humans begin to change when it comes down to their survival and that only the strongest survive. Their entire conversation is that of a hunter and the hunted until the end when Rainsford comes to the house then it is hunter vs. hunter. In the end, Rainsford is the stronger one but he's become very animalistic and instinct in his nature to survive.
9. Special Features
A. Imagery: there was blood imagery in the story; the food Zaroff ate was always red,
B. Foreshadow: the author shows foreshadowing in the short story when in the beginning Rainsford is talking to his fellow hunter, to pity the hunted, yet he doesn’t care, and ays being a hunter you shouldn’t care about them.
10. Significant quotes
“Instinct is no match for reason.”
General Zaroff’s smug formulation in his initial conversation with Rainsford over dinner summarizes the common assumption that instinct and reason are mutually exclusive. Connell explores this misperception by contrasting culture and society with the bestial, savage, and survivalist impulses all animals have. Although General Zaroff believes that logic and cool thinking always allow him to triumph over terrified prey, his physical injuries sustained from springing Rainsford’s traps highlight the flaws in his reasoning and suggest that he’s much more vulnerable than he’d like to believe. In the end, Rainsford survives the hunt only after fear forces him to jump off the cliff into the ocean, a rasher decision than he would ordinarily make. The animal and human elements work in tandem to ensure his survival.
“I have played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable.”
After creating a misleading path through the jungle to lose Zaroff on the first night of the hunt, Rainsford switches modes and hides in a tree to save some of his strength. Comparing Rainsford with foxes and cats allows Connell to highlight Rainsford’s descent into a more animalistic state in which he must mimic the instinctive behavior of animals to survive. This quotation also reminds readers of Rainsford’s earlier conversation with his friend Whitney on board the yacht when Rainsford dismisses the notion that prey feel fear. Such thoughts, he had initially believed, only personify animals and ascribe a complexity of thought and emotion that animals don’t really possess. Playing the fox, however, with hunting hounds close on his heels, Rainsford feels the powerlessness and terror that all prey feel. Even though he jumps to his seeming death out of fear of the pursuing dogs, he manages to keep his fear in check enough to ultimately outwit General Zaroff and end the hunt. 11. Questions: 7.