Modernism: The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

“The Most Dangerous Game” is a story which features two main characters General Zaroff and Rainsford. Both characters are into big game hunting. The story opens with Rainsford traveling to New York on his yacht, which he then falls off of and proceeds to swim to the nearest land he can find. Rainsford then ends up on an island to which he ends up at General Zaroff’s house and is kindly invited in. Later that night when the two hunters are eating together Zaroff proceeds to tell Rainsford about how big game hunting has started to bore him. Zaroff also tells Rainsford how he hunts humans which automatically makes Rainsford question if he is safe staying with Zaroff. Throughout the story the author, RIchard Connell, uses examples of modernism. Richard Connell published this story in the year 1924, which is post World War I and after this event people questioned the insanity of it all. The conflict of this story is how Zaroff hunts people now instead of animals. Zaroff’s whole life is about hunting whether it be animals or people. In his youth Zaroff uses guns to shoot prize turkeys and sparrows. Zaroff’s father would not punish him for using these guns, but would compliment him on his hunting skills. Zaroff’s father complimenting him on his hunting skills shows that Zaroff has been hunting most of his life and it wasn’t such

At the end of the story Zaroff pushes Rainsford off a cliff and walks back to his house to enjoy a meal thinking that Rainsford has died from the fall. What Zaroff does not expect is Rainsford to appear in his room and kill him. In the end Rainsford turns into Zaroff, the man he was sceptical about for killing humans. The readers are left with questions such as; How did Rainsford kill Zaroff? Was there a fight? What did Rainsford do after he had killed Zaroff? All the reader is left with is that Zaroff had the tables turned on him and Rainsford is the new