Most Dangerous Games

Introduction

Over the time, living being has been exposed to many dangers in nature, and sometimes that led him to make extremely difficult decisions to survive any danger. In the present story, “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell, the principal character, Rainsford, a hunter, has to pass through different tough situations. In nature, the animal has always been exposed to the danger of any predator and the law of the strongest has no limit when it comes to cruelty. Throughout the competition between Zaroff and Rainsford, we can notice that this one passes from status to another and, at the end, compared to the beginning of the story, he is much more familiar with the feelings of fear.

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In the first place, Rainsford has always been passionate about hunting and always implied that this was a sport like any other. In other words, he thought that the animals had no feelings as humans and they served only as toys for hunters. In his words he always wanted to highlight how brave he was: "The world is made up with two classes - the hunters and the huntees” (line 12 p.1). He showed a selfish attitude towards the weakest. Be that as it may, Whitney, his traveling companion to Rio de Janeiro, was always in favor of respect for animals and was very sensitive to the feelings they felt when being hunted. Whitney tries to resonate Rainsford when he tell him: “I rather think they understand one thing-fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death” (line 11 p.1). Whitney admits that animals have a wide understanding of what being hunted means. Before arriving, Rainsford already knew this island as “the Ship-Trap Island”, but no one knew the significate of that name. That’s where Rainsford made acquaintance with General Zaroff, a Russian expert in hunting. This one was so bored of hunting animals that he went crazy to experiment new things, leading him to begin hunting humans (and Rainsford). The fright of Rainsford, increasing gradually, can be perceived throughout the story with specific words, and his emotions go through several stages: First, he behaves coldly with the general ("I cannot believe ...", "cold-blooded murder", "stiffly"). Then, the panic slowly grows and he discretely tries to escape the other man’s company ("I'm really not feeling well", "Firmly", ‘"No general," I said. "I will not hunt"’, "cried").

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However, during the meal, the general saw that Rainsford was unusually intelligent and he felt that he could be a good match for his game and above all it would not be an easy battle. So, Mr. Zaroff includes the young man in his game and starts hunting him. From that moment, his experiment as a quarry made Rainsford see the theme of the hunting from a very different point of view Rainsford was being forced by the general to take a quick and fundamental decision: “Surviving”. On that purpose, he used his abilities of hunter to create traps. We fight the fire with fire, so by using his enemy’s own weapon, he had more opportunities to win the game, or at least to survive.  He also had plenty time to experiment true fear, feeling that would never had crossed his mind before.  Forthwith comes the climax, and thus the abyss of panic ("held his breath", "froze", "cold shudder of horror"). During those nights, alone in the forest, he had the opportunity to realize that he was no longer in a position to dominate; his situation got completely upside down. Comparing to the confidence he had with Whitney, Rainsford was now treated as the weak: ‘ “Thank you, but I’m a hunter, not a murderer”. “Dear me,” said the general. “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong. The weak off the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong. Why should  I not use my gift?” ‘ ( line 76 to 77, p.4).