Suspense In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

In the story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, the darker action was when Rainsford killed General Zaroff. Richard Connell’s characters in the story follow the actions that were based off Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. In “The Most Dangerous Game”, the darker action was Rainsford killing General Zaroff. The intention for this was because of their agreement.

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

He is completely helpless; he is stuck. If the general sees him, he is done for. While reading this, the reader feels Rainsford’s total hopelessness—the whole story could end right now; the general could find him, and Rainsford can do absolutely nothing about it. The reader is anxious, hoping he will not be found. So forth, helplessness provides a fantastic opportunity for suspense in the mind of the reader.

Such a terrifying experience as that depicted in the short story ¨The Most Dangerous Game¨, Richard Connell, could never be imagined by the usual person. Sanger Rainsford struggles ashore an island known as ship trap island after falling off of his yacht. On the island he meets the sole inhabitants of the island, General Zaroff, the protagonist, Zaroff soon tells Rainsford about his hunting of human beings and how he is going to hunt him. They go on their hunt and the hunt ends with Rainsford killing Zaroff. Connell achieves the major theme, hunt or be hunted, through the use of three literary elements: imagery, suspense, and foreshadowing.

Rainsford is an man that thinks that hunting is just a game, but at the end of the story he is considering hunting. The short story is a action/adventure and it is called “The Most Dangerous Game”by Richard Connell. Zaroff's actions are uncivilized and motivate Rainford to change his point of hunting. General Zaroff states in the story “ If I find him…... he will loses.”

When it is revealed that what Zarroff hunts is humans, Rainsford reacts shockingly, assuming the general is joking. After doubling down and confirming that he is not joking, Rainsford says, “Hunting? General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder” (35). Zaroff, however, does not see it this way, believing that hunting humans is a natural progression for someone who has become bored with hunting animals. He tells Rainsford, “I had to invent a new animal to hunt...

This idea of hunting sets the tone for the rest of the story and emphasizes the main conflict between Rainsford and Zaroff as well as creating fear through Rainsford realizing what is to come. Additionally, Zaroff hunts animals,

In the story Connell uses foreshadowing to reveal that Rainsford will be hunted. For example Zaroff states, “you’ve a

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.

Rainford exposes his selfishness and lack of empathy by saying, “‘Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes-the hunters and the huntees. Luckily you and I are hunters’”(2). His actions throughout the story show his cruelty too. Rainsfords profession is killing animals, and while he does

When Rainsford asks if Zaroff hunts cape buffalo, Zaroff states “ ‘[No,] I hunt more dangerous game’ (17)”. This foreshadows him revealing that he hunts men. This builds suspense because the reader doesn’t know yet what this “dangerous game” is, but they know it probably isn’t good. The author utilizes

External conflict is something that some characters from the second unit struggle with. Rainsford, Mathilde, and Georg and Ulrich all experience external conflicts that create an unexpected turn of events. The title “The Most Dangerous Game” is significant to the text because it helps readers to understand that the game will not be easy. It also reflects the truth in this text because Rainsford underestimated his opponent, and this could cause the game to be dangerous.

It is now hard for him to trust anyone after being forced to be hunted. “The pit grew deeper; when it was above his shoulders, he climbed out and from some hard saplings cut stakes and sharpened them to a fine point. These stakes he planted in the bottom of the pit with the points sticking up” (Connell 34) because of this flashback Rainsford starts to get scared about himself hurting another human being. He won’t hunt again because he remembers his times of desperation and how he felt while trying to kill a living person. Another factor of Rainsford’s nervousness is when he told that the man being hunted the day before lost his head.

The story being set on a secluded island allows General Zaroff to immorally hunt other humans without being reprimanded. If set in another place, the writer may not have been able to effectively achieve this plot. The island allows Rainsford to use his superlative hunting skills to avoid being captured. After finding one of Rainsford’s traps, Zaroff says, “If you are within the sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. Not many men know how to make a Malay man-catcher” (76).

In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” Sanger Rainsford is forced to test his survival skills while he is intensely hunted by an experienced war general named General Zaroff. In this story, Rainsford exhibits some very helpful characteristics like his resourcefulness, his strategic planning, and his ability to reason. As a result of Rainsford’s questioning the validity of General Zaroff’s hunting methods, he ended up playing in the game. Although I believe Rainsford is a very helpful, interesting, and dynamic character, at the end of the story, he must give up his own personal morals to win the game.