Conflicts In The Most Dangerous Game, By Richard Connell

Conflicts are like bad habits. Everybody runs into at least one but not everyone does something about them. Conflicts are all kinds of bad but solving them helps out much more in the long run. All bad things have a solution and should be fixed. In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell Rainsford runs into man versus man, man versus nature, and man versus self conflicts. In the beginning of the short story the conflict that started it all is a man versus nature conflict. Rainsford is on a yacht with his hunting friend Whitney on a moonless night in the Caribbean. He hears gunshots and wants to see if he can find where they are coming from so he goes out and stands on the railing of the yacht where he falls off, “...the salt water in his open mouth made him gag and strangle”(10). Rainsford is fighting for his life

Rainsford kills Ivan and has to face a hard decision, die to the dogs or take a chance and jump. “...the sea rumbled and hissed. Rainsford hesitated. He heard the hounds. Then he leaped far out into the sea…”(22). Rainford makes a difficult decision by jumping. He can either die to the dogs or take a chance and jump into the ocean. He thinks of how painful it would be to have the dogs bite at him and how quick getting smashed against the rocks would be and he takes a chance. Rainsford survives the jump and swims back to the chateau. Rainsford makes the right decision and gets his reward for it when he kills the general ending their conflict. Rainsford encounters man versus man, man versus nature, and man versus self conflict in “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. Man versus man is shown when Rainsford does not agree with the general. Rainsford encounter man versus nature conflict when he falls off the boat. When facing a difficult decision Rainsford encounters man versus self conflict. Conflict must always be solved and moved