Analytical Essay On The Most Dangerous Game

In The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, Rainsford says, “The world is made up of two classes-the hunters and the huntees.” This quote shows than Rainsford believes that human life is clearly more valuable than animal life. This is also shown when he says, “Hunting? Great guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder.” He says this in response to finding out that Zaroff hunts humans. Though he has no qualms about killing animals for personal pleasure, Rainsford clearly puts a high value on human life. Zaroff, on the other hand, does not value human life as highly as Rainsford. Zaroff does believe that everybody is either a hunter or a huntee, but he believes that “the weak of the world were put [there] to give the strong pleasure.” This quote shows Zaroff’s opinion of human life: only those who are strong are worth anything, and those who are weak are worse than animals.

The author shows that when one is of high status, like Zaroff was, one often loses sight of what’s right and what’s wrong because one thinks of oneself as higher or more valuable than those who aren’t of high status. Zaroff clearly shows this when he says, “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure.” Because Zaroff sees himself as strong, he has no problem killing those that he considers weak. Connell also shows that humans can never be truly satisfied with what they have. Zaroff says, “Hunting was beginning to bore me! And hunting, remember, had been my life. . . Hunting had ceased to be what you call ‘a sporting proposition.’ It had become too easy.” Zaroff, of course, decides that hunting humans is the way to quench his boredom. Later in the story, Zaroff says, “Last night I detected traces of my old complaint . . . boredom.” Connell believes that some people will never be able just to be satisfied with what they