Suspense In The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

Working Thesis:Connell combines helplessness and foreshadowing to sustain suspense in The Most Dangerous Game

The feeling of helplessness throughout the book creates a suspenseful atmosphere. Rainsford falling out of the boat heaped a great deal of helplessness into the already suspenseful story. “The cry was pinched off short as the blood-warm waters of the Caribbean sea closed over his head” (15). In this section of the story the reader feels the desperation of Rainsford. The reader hopes the boat will turn around to rescue Rainsford, while deep inside they know the boat is gone. Another instance that increases the story’s suspense through helplessness is when Rainsford hides in the tree. “The general’s eyes had left the ground were traveling

Right away in the beginning boat scene Connell uses foreshadowing. During Ransford and Whitney’s curious conversation, Whitney unwarily states, “‘The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees. Luckily you and I are the hunters’” (1). When Whitney decares this interesting outlook on life it hints to the reader that the story will revolve around hunting. Once readers read this foreshadowment, it gives them an uneasy feeling about who or what will be hunted. Especially, based on the fact that Whitney is so sure that he and Rainsford are the hunters. In addition to that instance of foreshadowing that creates suspense, is a chunk of conversation during the dialog between Rainsford and General Zaroff at the dinner table. During their conversation at the supper table Mr. Zaroff hints to the reader that he might not be hunting animals, but humans, “‘I never joke about hunting. I needed a new animal. I found one’” (4). The foreshadowment in this dialogue creates an insecure feeling in the reader's mind. When read the reader begins to realize that he just might not be hunting an animal but a human. This makes the reader want to shout at the book and tell Rainsford to get out of that creepy manor, but they can not. Fastidiously using foreshadowing, Connell created suspense in the terrific