“The Most Dangerous Game”, a short story by Richard Connell, is about Sanger Rainsford’s unfortunate visit to General Zaroff’s island while on a hunting trip. General Zaroff isn’t any normal hunter and he invites Rainsford to play a hunting game that is unlike any other hunting game. General Zaroff’s arrogance and experience in hunting and the hunting game, could cost Rainsford his life. The first trait General Zaroff displays is arrogance. At one point in the story, General Zaroff describes himself “God makes some men poets. Some he makes kings, some beggars. Me he made a hunter. My hand was made for the trigger my father said.” General Zaroff made this statement to Rainsford so Rainsford could understand not only does he have skill in hunting, but hunting was a gift to General Zaroff from God. He went on to describe himself “When I shot some of his prize turkeys with it, he did not punish me; he complimented me on my marksmanship. I killed my first bear in the Caucasus when I was ten.” General Zaroff is pointing out that even at a young age he was a magnificent hunter and displays …show more content…
General Zaroff explains to Rainsford some of his hunting experience “Naturally, I continue to hunt-grizzles in your Rockies, crocodiles in the Ganges, rhinoceroses in east Africa.” This statement made by General Zaroff lists some of the animals that General Zaroff has experience in hunting. The second example of General Zaroff’s experience trait is when he is hunting Rainsford. Rainsford was hiding from him up in a tree and thought “The general could follow a trail through the woods at night; he could follow an extremely difficult trail; he must have uncanny powers; only by the merest chance had the Cossack failed to see his quarry.” General Zaroff’s experience in tracking allowed him to follow an extremely difficult trail that Rainsford intentionally made. General Zaroff experience helps him to be a great
General Zaroff displays little empathy for human life while explaining his murderous game to Rainsford. “‘I refuse to believe that so modern and civilized a young man as you seem to be harbors romantic ideas about the value of human life.’” (Connell 10). General Zaroff reveals his philosophy that human life has no value and that killing for his own pleasure is justifiable. Both Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff are characters that accurately depict the characteristics of an adventure story.
After when Zaroff had talked to Rainsford about hunting humans he said, “I want to show you my new collection of heads. ”(9). General shows his barbarism when he talks about a collection of heads. It is
Despite all of General Zaroff’s success, fortune and his appeared attitude, Zaroff is in many ways not civilized. Civilized means being polite, well-mannered or treating others with respect. Well Zaroff treats Rainsford good at first evident by giving him a cocktail, treating him to a meal, and hoping to hunt with him until he says “I wish to leave this island at once”. This quote hit Zaroff in his heart.
I have read the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. In this story, Rainsford, a faimed author and hunter, falls off his ship and winds up on an island where he meets a man. This man turns out to be a former Russian General, General Zarroff. General Zarroff , it just so happens, is a hunter in his own but of a different nature. To escape the island he must outwit his host in the General’s own game of hunting.
For the story, “ Most Dangerous Game” I had one question. What kind of animal is being hunted in the story by General Zaroff? I think the animal that is being hunted is a hybrid of the Cape Buffalo and the jaguar. In the story General Zaroff said the jaguar is super fast and he needed a challenge.
At first, Rainsford is seen viewing hunting as a game that holds no moral consequences and has no effect on the animals. However, he is later challenged when met by Zaroff who also had the same viewpoint, but on a much larger scale. Rainsford ironically realizes the true nature of hunting when his own actions are pushed against him. In addition, when General Zaroff is trying to convince Rainsford to join the hunt, Connell writes, "’I'll wager you'll forget your notions when you go hunting with me. You've a genuine new thrill in store for you, Mr. Rainsford’, ‘Thank you, I'm a hunter, not a murderer’" (Connell).
This can be inferred that he likes the thrill of almost dying while hunting, maybe he thinks that there is no way he would rather die. Zaroff could possibly want to die while hunting, he would die doing what he loves. He wants to be challenged in hunting and people are what challenge him the most. “What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?' And the answer was, of course, `It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason."
Most people when they hear “The Most Dangerous Game” they think of bull riding or other dangerous games that don’t involve death. “The Most Dangerous Game” is a suspenseful cliff hanging story that follows the days of a castaway on the island of a crazed hunter. Rainsford is a big game hunter who falls off a boat near the island of General Zaroff, a big Cossack general who is looking for an alternative to hunting dangerous animals but with a twist. Throughout “The Dangerous Game” Rainsford and General Zaroff both show examples of IRony and exert arrogance.
Also, General Zaroff is an extreme hunter and doesn’t find pleasure in hunting regular animals. Zaroff says the most dangerous game is humans because they have the ability to reason. Rainsford is going to be hunted and is given a certain amount of time to survive. Moreover, while Rainsford is being hunted Zaroff
In his hand the man held a long-barreled revolver & it was pointed at his heart.” This quote goes to show that General Zaroff’s guard could’ve easily murdered him but that eliminate his game before it even started. At another point in the story General Zaroff’s fate was in Rainsford’s hand. On page 39 it states” I congratulate you”, he said ,” You have won the game.” Rainsford did
However, it does not change for the better. In the middle of the story when he finds out Zaroff hunts fellow human beings, to Zaroff's surprise, Rainsford’s thought and reaction is utter shock and disbelief. “‘But you can’t mean-’ gasped Rainsford. ‘And why not?’”(10). Zaroff knowing Rainsford was a great hunter he hoped that Rainsford would accompany him on a hunt; however, Rainsford accuses him of being a cold-blooded killer.
“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a story about a man, Sanger Rainsford, whose ideals and overall character change throughout the story, specifically about hunting, due to his encounter with General Zaroff. At the beginning of the story Rainsford is a stuck up man. He could not care less about any other living things other than humans. He believes all living wildlife are expendable and only there for his pleasure of hunting. During the story Rainsford has to make many quick and overall difficult decisions during his encounters with the ocean, General Zaroff, and the island wilderness to survive, that change how he thinks about animals.
Hunting is fun for some people, until you're being hunted. “The most dangerous game” is a short story written by Richard Connell. Zaroff demonstrates that he is confident, anxious, talented. First Zaroff is a very rich individual, i know he is talented because on ( pg.221) Rainsford was describing how big and nice zaroff house was “It was a huge, beam-ceilinged bedroom with a canopied bed enough for six men that Rainsford followed the silent giant.” Another way Zaroff is very rich because he also has his own island where he hunts more than just animals.
but it is General Zaroff that surpasses him. The part of the story when Rainsford asks if Ivan is Russian.... The reader now knows General Zaroff is not a mere hunter but he is out to
General Zaroff is an amazing hunter, “[has] hunted every kind of game in every land” (). Since he has hunted every animal and was smarter than every animal, there was nothing left for him to hunt. General Zaroff had been hunting since he was a child, and he thought all animals were too easy, except one. “‘It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason’” (). By this, he means humans.