“The Most Dangerous Game”, written by Richard Connell, tells a story about the concept of natural selection between the predator and the prey. The short story starts off with the main character, an American hunter named Sanger Rainsford traveling via yacht to hunt jaguars in the Amazon with a friend. Eventually, after his friend has gone to bed, he goes to investigate a series of gunshots he heard in the distance and eventually falls off the yacht, leaving him stranded in the Caribbean Sea. Rainsford keeps calm, despite his troubles, and swims toward where he had heard the gunshots. He soon found an island and, after sleeping off his exhaustion from his swim, began to search for the men who shot off the gun he had heard, in hopes that he will …show more content…
The two men are both veterans of war, own multiple guns, and love to hunt. They also have both traveled all over the world in search of the best prey possible. Thompson also points out that throughout the story clue can help the reader conclude that both the men are well educated and are well off when it comes to financial means. It is because of theses similarities that Thompson compares the two as “almost like a father and a son”. However, Thompson also points out that the two are also very different in many ways …show more content…
Both the men are war veterans and avid hunters, but they both have completely different ideas on how the world works. General Zaroff is unable to adapt to the New World and let go of the ideas that he grew up with as a nobleman of the Romanov Russian Empire. However, Sanger Rainsford is able to adapt to the changes that have happened to the New World. It is because of this that he is able to outsmart General Zaroff at his own game and kill the Cossack, thus, Rainsford was a higher class of human than Zaroff, due to the rules of natural selection
“You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?”. The story “The Most dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell introduces an adventurous type of thriller with two main characters named Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff. Both of which are hunters who in the story play a “game” invented by General Zaroff out of pure fear of becoming bored of the hunt. General Zaroff is a big fan of the hunt and everything he says about the hunt is to be taken serious. Rainsford and General Zaroff are described to be excellent hunters through the traps Rainsford makes, all the big game Zaroff has hunted, but Zaroff is better at hunting through the fact that the hunt has began to bore and he needs more of a challenge hunting humans.
Both “Full Circle” and “The Most Dangerous Game” have many differences with how the murder is presented in the story, but both also have many similarities. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” the murder was done for fun and sport, General Zaroff killed his victims to fulfill a hunting sensation. But in the short story “Full Circle”, the murder was done out of jealousy, because the Terry was rejected. Throughout my paper I hope to show the similarities and differences of the murder cases within the two stories.
In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. Rainsford is a hunter. He was on a yacht until he fell off the boat. He swam all the way to shore because Rainsford heard three gun shots. He walked upon a gigantic mansion. This house was for a man named General Zaroff. He was an hunter just like Rainsford in a hunt , but hunted humans instead of animals. General Zaroff wanted to kill Rainsford in a hunt with the General. Also, the General threaten Rainsford if he doesn’t hunt with him; he will be sent with Ivan.
Where does the line of sport and murder intersect in hunting? Is it when the species being hunted is able to reason? Or is it when the species being hunted looks just like the hunter? In both movie and film, we see a man fight for his life and another going against all codes of ethics. While Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s film adaptation both have several similarities, the difference are also apparent in each respective media.
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.
For many people, hunting is just a sport, but for some it is a way of life. In Rick Bass’s “Why I Hunt” he explains how he got to where he lives now and what he thinks of the sport of hunting. There are many things in the essay that I could not agree more with, and others that I strongly disagree. Overall this essay provides a clear depiction of what goes through the mind of a hunter in the battle of wits between them and the animal.
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 short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the protagonist, Rainsford, is a smart, clever, resilient man who keeps a cool head in stressful and dangerous situations. Rainsford is not allowed to leave the island he washes up on after he falls off the yacht he was traveling on, because the mentally disturbed general wants to hunt people with Rainsford. Rainsford makes a deal with the general to win his freedom. If Rainsford can evade Zaroff for three nights, then Rainsford is free to leave the island. During the hunt, Rainsford must think quickly and be resourceful in order to stay alive. Rainsford is an extremely experienced hunter who writes books about his hunting experiences. When Rainsford is running from the
Hunting big game animals for sport was a popular pastime with the wealthy classes following World War I. The morality of killing for sport was not questioned in reality, but in this short story the author does question it by taking it a step further and having the protagonist, Sangor Rainsford, hunted by the antagonist, General Zaroff.In a short story full of irony, one of the greatest ironies of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is that General Zaroff repeatedly tells Rainsford that he maintains a sense of civilization on his island.
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
Did you know even though nature can be beautiful it can sometimes be deadly. In The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford begins to see the awe-instilling power of nature and how it can hurt us. The Most Dangerous Game Written by Richard Connell is a story about the dangers of nature and the ethical question of if we should kill animals. Connell uses irony to instill a question in the mind of the reader”Is killing animals moral?” In “The Most Dangerous Game,”Richard Connell uses a flip between man and animal to convey irony in the story while also using the dangerous environment of the Island to show suspense.
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.
Rainsford is an intelligent man. Early in the story, “Rainsford remembered the shots. They had come from the right, and he doggedly swam in that direction” (34). Rainsford had just fallen in the water, swam fifty feet further out, but he kept his senses in the right direction. In total darkness, Rainsford used his intelligence and intellect to reach the land. Also, I don’t think that Rainsford knew he was being sized up when Zaroff was staring at him, but when “Rainsford’s bewilderment showed in his face” (100), he quickly understood what Zaroff was leading too. Rainsford wasn’t a murderer. Sure he liked to hunt game, but he wasn’t bored as Zaroff was. Rainsford never bought into all the old tales. ‘“One superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship’s company with fear”’ (20). He never got worked up or stressed out.
G. Zaroff is untrustworthy because in the end after Rainfords has beaten him he still has to fight him. He shows this when Rainsford meets him in the bedroom the General says “I see, Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in a very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford…..” This means that he didn’t keep his promise of letting him go after three days and still made him fight.
All throughout the story violence is very prevalent. Zaroff explains and even justifies his violence with “A trace of anger was in the general's black eyes, but it was there for but a second; and he said, in his most pleasant manner, ‘Dear me, what a righteous young man you are! I assure you I do not do the thing you suggest. That would be barbarous. I treat these visitors with every consideration. They get plenty of good food and exercise. They get into splendid physical condition. You shall see for yourself tomorrow’” (Connell 8). It seems as if General Zaroff even enjoys violence which is why he hunts other people. Zaroff says that the violence is in his nature saying “'A simple fellow, but, I'm afraid, like all his race, a bit of a savage.’‘Is he Russian?’‘He is a Cossack," said the general, and his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth. ‘So am I.’” (Connell 7). Zaroff indirectly says that he is a savage by saying that Cossacks are savages, and Zaroff is a Cossack, and as such he is a savage. Zaroff’s actions further prove that he a violent person.