Imagine you are being chased by a ruthless, cold-blooded, psychotic serial killer that’s hot on your trail no matter how hard you to try to shake them off. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, we read about a callous hunter, Sanger Rainsford, being stranded on Ship-Trap Island. The story starts off with Rainsford and Whitney sailing on their yacht past the notorious island called Ship-Trap Island. As they are passing the island, Rainsford and Whitney are discussing about their trip to hunt jaguars in Rio. A little time goes on, so Whitney begins to tire and heads off to bed. Meanwhile, Rainsford gets carried away investigating alleged gunshots from a distance, and he slips and falls into the pitch-black water free …show more content…
After forcefully being thrown into the deadly contest, Rainsford knows he must stay calm and prepare himself for what is to come. Rainsford tells himself, “I must keep my nerve, I must keep my nerve” (Connell). He understands that once he panics, he will only put himself in a more dire situation. Quickly, Rainsford took control of his situation and began creating a plan. He knew a straight line would prove vain in his efforts to throw off his “predator”, so he began making a trail filled with intricate loops to confuse the psychotic killer. After three days of vigorously averting from his hunter, Rainsford understands that General Zaroff’s guard is down due to Zaroff’s misconception of Rainsford falling to his death; Consequently, Rainsford sneaks into Zaroff’s house and they fight to the death. At the end of the story, Connell writes, “[Rainsford] had never slept in a better bed,” suggesting Rainsford was victorious in the final …show more content…
In the first few pages of the story, we read how he falls off his yacht. Although being in a sticky situation, he courageously remembered where the pistol shots were coming from and “swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength” (Connell). Later in the story, Rainsford and General Zaroff are discussing the conditions on if he wins the horrid, savage game he will soon be forced into. General Zaroff pressured Rainsford to agree to mention nothing of the visit on Ship-Trap Island. Although already threated once, Rainsford stands his ground confidently, saying “I’ll agree to nothing of the kind" (Connell). This shows his bravery and firmness in his morals and
To convey the theme of competition can enhance a person’s character, Richard Connell has Rainsford succeed at the Most Dangerous Game. Rainsford shows through the big hunt growth because he knows strategies and ways to win the big hunt. The frightening event is when he has to build his traps to stay away from the General. The exciting is when he meets him back at the house and kills the General and win the Most Dangerous
Rainsford sets several traps as he is chased harming Zaroff or one of Zaroffs’s men/dogs. He is finally pined and jumps into the ocean from a cliff. Zaroff thinking he has won heads home but Rainsford beats him there confronting him. Zaroff challenges Rainsford saying whoever wins gets
In the short story “The most dangerous game “. Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. Rainsford is a professional hunter and writer. Who one day fell off a boat and swam to Ship-Wreck Island. The island was known of bad omen because of all the ships who happened to walk to their deaths.
In the text read in class, “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford displayed many instances where he persevered. Not only does General Zaroff respect Rainsford as a hunter, but his intentions are to now make this hunter his prey. The reader does not expect Rainsford to make it out alive but he now conquers the game General Zaroff has worked so hard on to master, hunting humans. Leading up to Rainsford killing General Zaroff, Rainsford showed his many different acquired hunting skills when fighting on the island. He made several different traps in attempt to kill Zaroff that ended in failure, but when Rainsford jumped into the ocean and swam to the house of General Zaroff, he showed signs of perseverance.
When Rainsford was getting ready to fight General Zaroff, the antagonist in the story, “Rainsford still did not smile. ‘I am still a beast at bay.’ he said, in a low, hoarse voice. ‘Get ready General Zaroff’ (Connell 112). Rainsford shows how he is willing to sacrifice himself to kill the “bad guy”.
His first thought is to get as far away as he can, ‘His first idea was to put as distance between himself and General Zaroff.’ But as he calms down and starts thinking rationally, he realizes he needs to try to survive and outsmart Zaroff and play along with his game. As the days go by he starts losing his morals and tries to kill Zaroff, first by dropping a log on him, ‘The dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one crashed down and struck the general.’ Rainsford has started losing his morals and getting more in touch with his beast.
Rainsford doesn't realize this, and when Zaroff brings up the game they are going to play he realizes that he hunts men and wants to hunt him. This proves the suspenseful tone used in The Most Dangerous game because it is not normal for humans to fight and want to eat other humans and also makes the reader engaged because they want to know what happens in the game. There are many hints that lead to many more major events. For example, in the beginning, Rainsford goes on a sailing journey to hunt with a boy with the last name Whitney. “The old charts call it ‘Ship-Trap Island, ' Whitney replied” (line 4).
That was postponing the inevitable. For a moment he stood there, thinking. An idea that held a wild chance came to him, and, tightening his belt, he headed away from the swamp.” Although Rainsford knows he is most likely going to be caught and killed by General Zaroff, he never once gives up. He always keeps going even when he beilives he can’t and wont survive.
This incident, when Rainsford has just began the game has to think logically and quickly as every second matters. He must do whatever he can to fool the experienced General. The fact that Rainsford is able to reason under such pressure while being hunted down makes his effort exceptional. Despite being constrained on an island, Rainsford is still able to survive as he realizes that “Twenty feet below him the sea rumbled and hissed. Rainsford hesitated.
He couldn’t believe it. He felt bad in the beginning but now he is proud of himself. He saved so many other human lives that are stuck in his mansion by winning “The most Dangerous Game”. Therefore, Rainsford’s views on
in this part of the story Rainsford has won zaroff's game and has lasted 3 days being hunted but Rainsford does not trust Zaroff to let him go home, and is trying to get rid of Zarroff so he can't hurt, hunt anyone ever again so Rainsford and Zaroff are fighting at this point, and Rainsford it trying to get away from Zaroff he was not feeling his way along, foot by foot. Rainsford, crouching there, could not see the general, nor could he see the pit. He lived a year in a minute. Then he felt an impulse to cry aloud with joy,” in this quote Zaroff is near a trap that Rainsford has set for him and Rainsford is close by hoping that Zaroff falls in and that he doesn't see Rainsford before he falls in. In this moment we can read how Rainsford is feeling in this moment and feel like we are there watching this happen using point of
Rainsford was on his yacht on his way to the Amazon to go jaguar hunting with one of his pals. In the process, he was smoking his cigar. He dropped it off his hat and when we want to reach for is he fell off and started to hear gunshots. Rainsford said,¨They had come from the right, and doggedly sawm in that direction¨(Conelle 2).Although it takes some thinking, Rainsford step into the unknown when he started swimming towards the island with gunshots, because he did not know what or who was being shot at. In other words, Rainsford did not know what he was going to face when he came up from the shore.
himself. This happened when Rainsford was on the island. He had to do his best to keep his composure and not lose his head. While he is in the jungle, he says “I will not lose my nerve”(184). This tells the reader that Rainsford was having trouble staying calm and not worrying.
In order to survive Rainsford must do something he previously declared he would never do, kill another human. In time his choice is revealed by the following, “The cat was coming again to play with the mouse”. Rainsford does fight back and in
Then he managed to escape. Along with Rainsford being courageous, he not only had to jump 20 feet into the ocean but he had to face one of the scariest and hardest things to do. Exclaimed in the MDG packet the last line of the story Rainsford notes, “he had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided.” This clarifies that Rainsford killed Zaroff. Therefore, Rainsford had the courage to come back from the sea he had jumped in and kill him in his own bedroom.