Most Dangerous Game Social Darwinism Essay

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In the later part of the nineteenth century, a theory arose that changed the idea of how humans were to survive and provided a deeper understanding of the human concept of survival, known to man as survival of the fittest, or Social Darwinism. In Connell’s short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” he emphasizes the fact that he does not support this idea of Social Darwinism because of how one presented it in many different forms throughout the themes. Throughout the divergent conflicts of the story, characters show their true colors and their display their bright lights, starting with instinct versus reason, already clear halfway through the first page in the fourteen-page work. Besides, as the story develops, events show that the strong do …show more content…

Ivan was coming down the path, and Rainsford set up a small, native Ugandan trap involving a hunting knife tied to a springy young sapling in the Caribbean forest, with the knife facing down the trail. As Connell described Ivan as a Cossack, savage and incredibly strong, it is only logical that he would be the figurehead for the strong character. Because the knife trap had a reasonably simple setup and seemed to be nowhere near as powerful and strong as mighty Ivan, it is only natural that the trap would portray the weak character. As Ivan was the personification and humanization of the strong character and the trap was personifying the weak, Ivan did not survive and Social Darwinism is the survival of the strong, Connell does not support Social Darwinism because the events contradict the entirety of the …show more content…

Starting on the first page, Connell displays emotions as clear as a fine window. As the yacht progressed, traversing the rough, Caribbean seas with skies the color of moist black velvet towards South America, there was one island of many that they passed which was the impetus for the crew to become scared. This was Ship-Trap Island. Captain Neilson is one who represents the strong, as Connell described him on the second page as being a “tough-minded old Swede” who would “go up to the devil himself and ask him for a light”. Furthermore, being scared is the fact an emotional feeling that has a weak connotation. Neilson has an emotional conflict with his external and usual characteristics, which are strong and represent the strong, and his internal characteristics exhibited on the yacht now surrounding the passing of Ship-Trap Island, which are weak and represent the weak. If one was to consider all these facts, the only conclusion one can draw except for the fact that Connell is using the emotions and emotional change of the yacht’s captain to prove his refusal to accept the theory of Social Darwinism to be

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