Hopeless Mood In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

Hopeless Mood in “The Most Dangerous Game” In the paragraphs before the climax of “The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell creates a hopeless mood by invoking the use of discouraging diction and demoralizing details to immerse the reader into Rainsford’s predicament. The reader loses hope of Rainsford ever escaping from Zaroff when Rainsford “was awakened by a sound that made him know that he had new things to learn about fear. It was a distant sound, faint and wavering, but he knew it. It was the baying of a pack of hounds.” (647-650). The phrase of “new things to learn about fear” suggests that Rainsford heard something that will drastically reduce his chances of survival thus telling the reader that Rainsford is in a dire situation. The

Rainsford being the brilliant hunter he is, knew that “he could do one of two things. He could stay where he was and wait. That was suicide. He could flee. That was postponing the inevitable… [then] an idea that held a wild chance came to him” (651-654). Connell further creates a sense of hopelessness and dread with the phrase “postponing the inevitable” since it is only a matter of time before Rainsford gets brutally murdered by Zaroff. This phrase also gives the reader a glimpse into Rainsford’s thoughts and makes sure that the reader understands the situation. The fact that Rainsford thinks of an idea with a slim chance of success can only mean that he is on the verge of giving up and succumbing to Zaroff and his dogs. Rainsford commits to his plan and starts running until he reached “the shore of the sea. Across a cove he could see the gloomy gray stone of the chateau. Twenty feet below him the sea rumbled and hissed. Rainsford hesitated. He heard the hounds. Then he leaped far out into the sea….” (678-680). At first, Connell fools the reader into thinking that Rainsford is so hopeless that he believes he can pull off a miracle by tricking Zaroff and the pack of hounds into thinking that he committed