Most Dangerous Game Symbolism

The Most Dangerous Game Literary Analysis

Many people believe that human thinking is completely different from other animals, but that is not true. This is demonstrated in Richard Connell’s short story, The Most Dangerous Game. In the story, a hunter gets stranded on a remote island, but he himself gets hunted by another human. The use of dialogue, character development, and characterization throughout the story leads the reader to believe that deep down, humans and animals both have the same instincts and way of thinking, humans just control it and hide it behind reasoning and analysis.

This idea is most evident through Rainsford and Zaroff’s dialogue. “My whole life has been one prolonged hunt…but my real interest was always the hunt.

At the beginning of the story, Rainsford does not think that animals have the same way of thought as humans, but at the end, he can sympathize with the fear and pain an animal feels when they are being hunted. “‘Bah! They’ve no understanding.’ ‘Even so, I rather think they understand one thing — fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.’ ‘Nonsense,’ laughed Rainsford’” (Connolly 2). Rainsford and Whitney are talking about jaguars, and this conversation shows at the beginning, Rainsford thinks animals, such as jaguars, cannot feel anything like a human can. When Whitney says that jaguars can feel pain and death, Rainsford just laughs and says, “Nonsense” (2). However, when he enters the hunt with Zaroff, Rainsford is put into the prey’s situation and now understands how the prey feels when they are being hunted. “The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror” (14). The phrase “full meaning of terror” (14) implies Rainsford understands the feeling from both sides now, from the hunter and the prey’s perspective. This shows that humans and animals can feel the same feelings because Rainsford is a human, and he is feeling terror like prey feels when they are being hunted. Another quote from the text also shows Rainsford’s development. “Then he ran for his life. The hounds raised their voices as they hit the fresh

When Rainsford stumbled out of the ocean onto dry land, the author describes his thoughts as, “All he knew was that he was safe from his enemy, the sea…” (Connolly 3). Rainsford’s thinking at this moment is very primitive, that he is safe from his enemy. This is because Rainsford has just survived a life-threatening situation of being stranded in the ocean, and he is relieved that he is safe. This shows that despite the sophistication of human thought, when a human is in a life-or-death situation where instinct matters most, their thought becomes primitive to let their instincts take over. This means that humans still share the same instincts with animals. Another example is when Rainsford first enters the hunt with Zaroff. “...he had plunged along, spurred on by the sharp rowels of something very like panic” (13). Rainsford is panicking because he doesn’t know what to do, and he is stuck in an unfamiliar situation, which is typical animal behavior. A final example of a human’s animalistic instincts showing is when Rainsford is contemplating what to do after escaping Zaroff’s hounds. “Rainsford knew 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. For a moment he stood there, thinking” (15). This brings out Rainsford’s fight-or-flight instinct that every animal