Henry Selsar The Most Dangerous Game Comparison

1640 Words4 Pages

“Short fiction seems more targeted – hand grenades of ideas, if you will. When they work, they hit, they explode, and you never forget them. Long fiction feels more like atmosphere: it’s a lot smokier and less defined.” — Paolo Bacigalupi. A notable, original story is organized and has tis literary elements woven into the very fabric of the story, hence allowing the reader's mind to become a part of the plot and deeply envision it, and classic instances of this are the two stories, The Most Dangerous Game authored by Henry Selsar and The Most Dangerous Game, authored by Richard Connell. The Most Dangerous Game is centered around the experience of a bright fellow named Dickie who lives in a civilization that executes overly intelligent individuals. …show more content…

We cannot escape it." — Brian Jacques. As this quote applies to real life, it certainly applies to the short stories The Most Dangerous Game and The Most Dangerous Game. The first story, respectively, is about a boy named Dickie who is illegally intelligent because he harbored a high intelligence quotient that violated the law. For that reason, the government executed him. "'This is the Government Educational Service. Your son, Richard M Jordan, Classification 600-115 has completed the Government examination. We regret to inform you that his intelligence quotient is above the Government regulation, according to Rule 84 Section 5 of the New Code … ‘You may specify by telephone,' … , ‘whether you wish his body interred by the Government, or would you prefer a private burial place?" It is apparent that the conflict present in this story is Character versus Society, where the character is Dickie, the society is the government, and the conflict is being put to death for high intelligence, as unquestionably hinted by the burial question. In comparison to The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford was hunted for three days. To gain victory and avert his death, he must remain hidden from General Zaroff and not be discovered during the three day duration of the hunt. Thus, the story features Character versus Character conflict where Rainsford conflicts with General Zaroff, the conflict being Zaroff hunting Rainsford. The link between the two stories is the inclusion of death within the conflict, albeit different types of conflict. When Dickie was assessed and found to have an IQ that was too high and violated the law, he was put to death. If Rainsford was to be discovered by Zaroff any time while the hunt for him was occurring, he would be murdered. Death came to Dickie and almost came to Rainsford when Zaroff seemed to be aware of his location, but indirectly gave him another chance to extend the hunt. One last similarity between the stories

Open Document