Ernest Hemingway's Short Story ', 'The Most Dangerous Game'

Short Story Essay Assignment

“When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” ― Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon. The connection and love for characters in a story is very important for the readers to experience. Three short stories including “The Scarlet Ibis”, “The Sniper” and, “The Most Dangerous Game” have characters that one either connect strongly to or has no connection, which therefore affects the reader's mood towards the story. The main characters include a handicapped child named Doodle, a sniper who kills his brother, and a man stranded on an island. The connection to the characters in the short stories enhances our emotional connection to the story.

“The Most Dangerous Game” first starts off on a boat heading close to Ship Trap Island. The main character, Rainsford, reached for his pipe that fell overboard and out of the boat he tumbled. Rainsford struggled in the caribbean sea fighting waves to find land. When Rainsford eventually found land, he came across a house. After knocking on the door and being let in by a giant body guard, Rainsford met General Zaroff. At the beginning of the two men's acquaintance, the General seemed like a normal man living on an island. After talking for a couple of minutes General Zaroff explained that he has hunted everything known to man, so now he has moved on to hunting men. This startled Rainsford, and he started to show signs of wanting to leave but the General gave him two options; hunt or be hunted. Rainsford chose to be hunted and lasted the time limit of three days of hunted by the General, and killed the General when he had his chance. At the beginning of the story, the flaw of Rainsford is he falling overboard and ending up swimming for his life. After Rainsford reached too far for his pipe, he was sent into a life or death situation while his “cry was pinched off short as the blood-warm waters of the Caribbean Sea dosed over his head. He struggled up to the surface and tried to cry out, but the wash from the speeding yacht slapped him in the face and the salt water in his open mouth made him gag and strangle” (Connell 2). As the readers read by this section of the story, their eyes would open wide in response to the situation that Rainsford was left in. The readers want Rainsford to pursue past this obstacle and find land. During the diligent fight with the ocean, the readers are rooting for Rainsford to survive. After he safely finds land, the readers are already emotionally connected with