Rainsford In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

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A skilled hunter sprints desperately through the woods, realizing the futility of hiding from his greatest foe: his own kind. Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is the story of a hunter that becomes the hunted. The story explores the sense of extreme terror the protagonist feels being pursued by a psychopath living on a mysterious island. This protagonist, Rainsford, has many traits that aid him in his battle with the general. By demonstrating his cunning, sly, and remorseful traits, Rainsford shows the story’s theme of “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”. In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford is shown as serious, cunning, and determined. Rainsford is shown to be serious in the story when he speaks …show more content…

In short, he learns how it feels to be utterly insignificant against a clearly superior foe. One way Rainsford is impacted by the theme “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” is that he is harshly taught the way of life that a hunted animal has to follow. He builds elaborate traps to defend himself, he runs desperately in an attempt to escape. He feels that his actions are entirely futile when his enemy finds him, yet he is still forced to keep his sanity and not just simply give up. This is a prime example of the toll the story’s theme takes on its protagonist. A second generalized way the theme affects Rainsford is that it teaches him the true meaning of fear. When the general sees Rainsford for the first time, Rainsford is petrified with fear, and reflects on this when Zaroff leaves, realizing exactly what Zaroff was actually doing; toying with him. A third and final way that Rainsford is impacted by the theme is that he realizes in the end how it is wrong to kill without remorse. From his first meeting with Zaroff, Rainsford sees the error in the general’s ways, namely his lack of morality or reason. He therefore strives not to sink to the general’s level and instead comes to the realization that killing is not always

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