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Rainsford In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

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Character Essay “I’ll agree to do nothing of the kind,” is Rainsford’s response when he is asked not to speak of the island where a man goes for his favorite hobby; murder (Connell 37). Rainsford is just a poor sailor who swam onto Ship Trap Island to escape the frigid waters that he accidentally fell into. He meets General Zaroff and learns about his personality and actions. Shortly after that, Rainsford soon realizes he needs to get off of the island as soon as he can. He continues to keep a calm head throughout his stay. He knows what the right thing to do is and he does it every time. Rainsford will have to use his intelligence to win, at “The Most Dangerous Game.”
Rainsford knows what is right and shows it throughout the story. He does not agree to keep quiet about what he has been told and things he has seen on Ship Trap Island (Connell 37). What happens on the island is wrong. General Zaroff, the owner of the island does not have the same beliefs as Rainsford. At that moment, he clearly tells General Zaroff that hunting men is not okay (Connell 35). No matter how boring hunting animals is, it is not okay to kill humans for a …show more content…

When an unfortunate accident throws Rainsford overboard, he stays calm (Connell 28). In this sudden event, he needs to stay calm, and he does that very well. From this point, he immediately looks around and surveys to find a place to go that isn’t stranded in the ocean. “General, I wish to leave this island at once” (Connell 36). Hearing all about the island and General Zaroff makes Rainsford decide he needs to leave. He is polite and firm, but not aggressive. Rainsford stays in reality when talking about the dark night with Whitney (Connell 27). He does not let his imagination get the better of him and stays focused on his treacherous journey. Staying calm, cool, and collected benefits Rainsford in his journey to and on Ship Trap

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508 Words | 3 Pages

General Zaroff said “I’m going now to have my wound dressed, it is only a slight one, but I shall be back.” (Connell, 26) The author states that Rainsford is very intelligent. He uses his hunting experiences to try and outsmart Zaroff and uses his knowledge to figure out what to

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370 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story The Most Dangerous Game, the author Richard Connell shows that Rainsford needs control of his emotions, patience , and expert hunting and decision making skills in order to defeat Zaroff. Rainsford needs to gain control of his emotions to outthink Zaroff, who symbolizes Rainsfords "steep hill". When he finds that he is going to be hunted his natural instinct is to run and panic, but then he stops to look around and get a grip on the task at hand. Then at a critical moment when Zaroff finds him in a tree, Rainsford panics again because he realizes Zaroff is on his trail and is toying with him. Once again, he gains control of his emotions and formulates a plan.

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1079 Words | 5 Pages

He sees Rainsford but does not kill him; instead, he smiles and walks off, leaving Rainsford in uncertainty. Moreover, the antagonist also has him wait dreadfully many times to see what will happen next. He knew that the general “shall be back” after almost being found the first time (Connell 34). Rainsford is now confused and does not know what will happen when the general comes back, but he knows he will which creates nervousness. Connell uses pacing to build suspense because he has to wait for his fate to be revealed.

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541 Words | 3 Pages

Once Rainsford was on the island he met a man named Zaroff, a general who loved hunting but had become bored hunting animals so started hunting humans instead. Since the island was secluded, Zaroff was able to hunt people that were shipwrecked without getting caught. Eventually Zaroff decided to hunt Rainsford, who put up a good fight against his captor. Rainsford then found out how the animals felt when he had been hunting them and began to feel sympathy for them. His being hunted like an animal being hunted led him to figure out the value of life.

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734 Words | 3 Pages

This example shows that Rainsford had to use his wit and mind to survive and out play his foe. Towards the end of the story Rainsford escapes by jumping off a cliff into the ocean to get away from General Zaroff. Rainsford escapes the island in a very clever way: “He reached it. It was the shore of the sea ...

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79 Words | 1 Pages

Rainsford is a hunter that falls off a ship and swims to Ship-Trap Island. Then he met General Zaroff who took him in. Soon Zaroff was hunting Rainsford. First Rainsford hide in a tree. Then he built a man catcher which wounded Zaroff.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

Another example of his likeable character and will to conserve his standards is right before the hunt begins. Since he is not willing to hunt humans, the general decides that he will hunt Rainsford! The only rule is that if he survives for more than three days, and beat the general's challenge, he is not aloud to tell any one about the island and what happened there. To this Raindsford responds, "'I will agree to nothing of the kind'" (6). This again shows Rainsfords abundance of character and hero like morals that make a very likeable

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848 Words | 4 Pages

These reasons are why I believe that Rainsford’s ability to reason is a very important and helpful characteristic and it played a very important role in his survival on Ship Trap

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498 Words | 2 Pages

Not only was rainsford in a conflict with General Zaroff he is in conflict with himself as he is finding his way to Ship Trap Island. “‘I must keep my nerve, I must keep my nerve,’ he said through tight teeth” (12). Rainsford also had a conflict with himself on the island when he was deciding what to do to get away from Zaroff. Rainsford was able to overcome the internal conflict when the dogs were chasing him and he needed to make the decision to jump into the water, fight the dogs, or climb a tree and hide. Man versus himself is very important to Connell’s story.

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Also, General Zaroff is an extreme hunter and doesn’t find pleasure in hunting regular animals. Zaroff says the most dangerous game is humans because they have the ability to reason. Rainsford is going to be hunted and is given a certain amount of time to survive. Moreover, while Rainsford is being hunted Zaroff

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444 Words | 2 Pages

Rainsford looked out into the ocean through the massive window. He could see the pack of ships coming to the island. Right on time he thought as he checked his Rolex. After the Zaroff incident, Rainsford had decided to turn the murder zone into a place for hunters to learn to hunt wild, vicious animals. The once captive sailors now work for him, transporting the newest hunters to the island.

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824 Words | 4 Pages

It is now hard for him to trust anyone after being forced to be hunted. “The pit grew deeper; when it was above his shoulders, he climbed out and from some hard saplings cut stakes and sharpened them to a fine point. These stakes he planted in the bottom of the pit with the points sticking up” (Connell 34) because of this flashback Rainsford starts to get scared about himself hurting another human being. He won’t hunt again because he remembers his times of desperation and how he felt while trying to kill a living person. Another factor of Rainsford’s nervousness is when he told that the man being hunted the day before lost his head.

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624 Words | 3 Pages

Rainford exposes his selfishness and lack of empathy by saying, “‘Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes-the hunters and the huntees. Luckily you and I are hunters’”(2). His actions throughout the story show his cruelty too. Rainsfords profession is killing animals, and while he does

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662 Words | 3 Pages

Tanner Toussaint In the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, Rainsford is justified in killing General Zaroff. One of the reasons why Rainsford is justified in killing General Zaroff is on the island the only way to live is to hunt or to be the one being hunted. Secondly, Rainsford is justified in killing General Zaroff because Zaroff wanted to die. Lastly, Rainsford is justified in killing General Zaroff because killing Zaroff is going to be the only way Rainsford will escape the island from a psychopath.

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460 Words | 2 Pages

He had to fight himself to stay on track. He was so scared in the jungle while the General was trying to hunt him. On page 186, it says “He could not say where he was. That was suicide.” This shows the reader that Rainsford may be thinking of what could go wrong, and is not thinking on the positive side of things.

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