Acknowledgedness In Connell's Game, By Richard Connell

By using helplessness in the story, Richard Connell creates suspenseful situations. At the beginning of the story, Rainsford falls off the yacht and is left in the ocean. Nobody hears his cries for help, as they are “pinched off short as the bloodwarm waters of the Caribbean sea closed over his head”(15). While reading this, the reader feels the hopeless situation as they watch Rainsford struggle. The desperation is doubtless; the readers are hoping the yacht will notice he is gone and will come after him, but knowing that it probably will not. Additionally, another time is when Rainsford is hiding in the tree from the general. He fears the general is going to find him as “the general’s eyes left the ground and were traveling, inch by inch, up the tree”(19). In this scene, Rainsford is completely at the general’s

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. Foreshadowing is another excellent tool of suspense. In the very opening paragraphs of this short narrative we meet Rainsford and his partner, Whitney, as they are having a conversation on the deck of the boat, on their way to a hunting expedition. During the conversation, Rainsford makes a comment: “ ‘The word is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees’ ” (15) and that “ ‘you and I are the hunters’ ” (15). This hints at a story revolving around hunting, a plot that could twist and turn. Perhaps it