The Most Dangerous Choice The story “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, is about how Rainsford competes for survival against General Zaroff. As in the poem, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, Rainsford experienced the need to choose between two options. In the story, Rainsford was required to make a life or death decision. Rainsford was faced with two choices, after he was given supplies and led into the woods by Ivan and Zaroff. He could do as many did before him and let his emotions overcome him, and allow his body to access his primal fight-or-flight instincts. Rainsford’s other option was to focus on the task of survival, and use his skills as a hunter to help him defeat General Zaroff in “The Most Dangerous Game”. Rainsford
Being hunted on an island is an experience like no other, whether it is a film or a short story. “The Most Dangerous Game” started off as a short-story, but was later turned into a film. Like many other films, the director has done some adjustments that differ from the short-story. The plot, setting, and characters were revised from the original form in the short-story. However, the difference in the characters was the most influential part that changed throughout the film.
After falling off his ship and forced to swim to a mysterious island, Rainsford is faced with a challenge. General Zaroff traps him in a “game” that requires Rainsford to use his skills to survive. He is hunted for three days; where he was chased, tracked down, and shot at. General Zaroff led the hunt to try to kill Rainsford. General was equipped with more firepower and help from his henchman and dogs. But even with his much greater opponent, he was able to survive. Rainsford used his many skills to defeat and kill his enemy. He used quick wit to make traps that would slow Zaroff and kill his dogs and henchman. Then he used his intelligence to escape Zaroff by swimming away, but sneaking back into his own mansion.
As we read “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, we are introduced to Rainsford. The true survivor expresses several characteristics that help him to defeat General Zaroff and win the game. Connell not only shows us that by being confident, quick thinking and adaptive, Rainsford is able to survive against the most inhumane people like General Zaroff, but he concludes that these characteristics of a true survivor can help us to survive conflicts of our own society as well.
In the beginning of the story, Rainsford has a conversation with his friend, Whitney, about hunting animals. Rainford does not care about the animals that he hunts. He believes hunting is only a sport to kill innocent creatures. “‘Who cares how a jaguar feels?’” (1) Showing the reader exactly what he thinks of hunting. Rainsford does not understand that the animals he hunts are like the people that Zaroff hunts. They are innocent, and he is murdering them when he hunts them. Rainsford thinks that Zaroff is insane for murdering people, but Rainsford is also a murderer. When Zaroff hunts Rainsford, the protagonist realizes the terror and pain the jaguars must have felt when he hunted them. Now the roles are reversed, and Rainsford is the one being hunted. “The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. The general was saving him for another day’s sport! Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror.” (17) Rainsford has changed his feelings about hunting animals now, and he has become a better person. He now takes into account how his prey feels. His interactions with people will also be different, because instead of being extremely overconfident, he realizes that he is not perfectly adept at hunting, and everyone has feelings that matter. In conclusion, Rainsford is now more humble and less overconfident than he was when he began his
In order to be the best, you have to beat the best. We saw and read two pieces describing this phrase. The Most Dangerous Game is about a hunter, Rainsford, who thinks that animals don't have any feelings expect the fear of death and pain. When going to the Amazon to hunt for tigers, he accidentally falls of the yacht and washes up on a peculiar and dark island called Ship-Trap Island. There is only one huge house or castle where there is one man living there. His name is Zaroff and is also a hunter. The only difference is that he hunts humans instead of animals. He invites Rainsford into his house and tells him about the stuff that he does. Zaroff wants to kill him in a game he has never lost...until now. The other piece was a movie called
“A man who had been hiding in the curtains of the bed, was standing there. ‘Rainsford!’ Screamed the General. ‘How in gods name did you get in here?’(80).” The General left that day knowing he hadn't caught Rainsford after he jumped out into the sea. The General believed he would not come back but until he found Rainsford in room, did he start to think anything bad would come to him. Up until this point in the story the general is enjoying hunting Rainsford, and Rainsford has the exact opposite feeling about this situation. Rainsford says himself “I am still a beast at bay”(80). The General challenged Rainsford, “‘One of us will furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On Guard, Rainsford…’(80).” The General never thought he would lose at his own game. That was until he was fed to his own
When Rainsford falls off of the boat, he has to try his best to stay afloat until he can find something to latch on to. He swims vigorously until he reaches Ship-Trap Island. "Jagged crags appeared to jut up into the opaqueness... dense jungle came down to the very edge of the cliffs." It is midday and he is just searching for a place to rest when he runs into Ivan, the astonishingly large guard of the island. Zaroff, the owner of the island, joins in on their conversation about hunting. The conversation is interesting to say the least. Zaroff says, "You'll find this game worth playing…your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And the stake is not without value, eh?" Zaroff is trying to point out that he finds interest in hunting humans, and he wants to know if Rainsford will rise to the challenge. Rainsford is left with a choice to make; will he fight Zaroff, or will he decline and get killed by Ivan. The choice in this situation is pretty self- evident.
Facing hardships, problems, or obstacles shouldn’t discourage one from completing their task or job. Many of authors usually put their characters through tough complications to show the reader that no matter what happens; anyone could pull through. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connel, the main character Mr. Rainsford gets stranded on an eerie island with a bad reputation. He meets General Zaroff and gets thrown into a huge hunting game, where his life is on the line. In the end, he wins the game and will continue to hunt animals, but not people, as the general once did. He will continue to hunt because one, hunting means everything to him. Two, he will not continue the general’s crazy ways, and resort back to the legal and non-dangerous to other humans sport. Third, he feels powerful when he becomes the hunter and not the hunted. Giving up hunting would be like giving up his life, so just because of a minor block he had to overcome, he will not give up hunting.
Sanger Rainsford has to overcome many obstacles he faces to not become what he fears, the hunted. When he is sprinting away from General Zaroff he has to fight the urge to quit, and he has to fight the battle of “The Most Dangerous Game.” He is running from the hounds, Ivan, and General Zaroff, when he arrives at a safe place he thinks about how close he was to becoming what he fears. Nevertheless, Sanger Rainsford out wits everything he has experienced and wins “The Most Dangerous Game.”
With animals when we track them down and kill them is called hunting, but when we do the same activities to humans it is unlawful and considered murder. Meanwhile we see a similar conflict in the short story The Most Dangerous Game written by Richard Connell. In the story the main character an extremely talented hunter, Rainsford, is on a yacht on his way to the Amazon for a dangerous hunt. Soon after the sailors spotted an island called Ship Trap Island Rainsford falls into the ocean and must swim to the island. While he was on the island he meets a man named General Zaroff, an experienced hunter. The theme of The Most Dangerous Game is morals and wrongful actions are in the eye of the beholder animals feel fear while being hunted, what is normal to you can be completely different from someone else’s idea of it, and joy doesn’t have identical meaning for everyone.
“The Most Dangerous Game” is about a man named Rainsford. When Rainsford falls off a yacht and has to swim to the nearest island, he meets a general named, General Zaroff, who became disinterested with hunting animals, so he switched to hunting humans as a game. He tricks ships into thinking that there is a channel they can sail through, but then
The most dangerous game began as a sport for one man. His name is Sanger Rainsford. In Richard Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game,” Sanger Rainsford, an avid hunter, is lost at sea, stranded on “Ship-Trap” Island-every sailor’s worst nightmare. Rainsford goes through a series of events that prove to be life-altering. Even though Sanger Rainsford went through many trials and tribulations, he never lost his intelligence, composure, or his bravery.
In conclusion, I believe Sanger Rainsford had an extremely impressive, influential, and committed role in “The Most Dangerous Game”. Although, I considered all the themes of the story, such as competition, violence, strength and skill, man and the natural world, and fear, very phenomenal, I found the theme of perseverance the greatest of all, because it revealed that Rainsford was someone who ad courage and determination to finish his mission; he was not a
The general's eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree. Rainsford froze there, every muscle tensed for a spring. But the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reached the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread over his brown face. This story is filled with the same type of fear Connell experienced in his life. Perhaps he felt 'hunted' at one point in his life and decided he had to run away from all the pain and anger. For instance, his father may have been abusive to him, so he decided to run away from the fear of being emotionally as well as physically hurt[ADM5]. Rainsford slid down the tree and struck off again into the woods... Following the trail with the sureness of a bloodhound came General Zaroff. Connell ran and ran and ran, but no matter how far he ran, his fears were always behind him. Connell would soon figure out what to do.
In the story The Most Dangerous Game a character named General Zaroff has a passion for hunting. He has been hunting since he was born. He has hunted every animal known to man, but, then he gets tried of hunting the same animal over and over. So he discovers a new animal human flesh. General Zaroff is person of bad character because he is cruel, cowardly, and untrustworthy.