Survival of the Fittest “The soul that is within me no man can degrade.” This phrase was said by Fredrick Douglass. When a person is in a tough situation, they will need to stay strong and be courageous. Rainsford, the main character in Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” is a well known hunter who is being hunted by another man, but as he is scared, he also remains brave. His fear starts when he meet General Zaroff and learns of his desire to kill. As Rainsford tries to run and hide from him, he still shows his bravery by trying to kill him. Consequently, in order for Rainsford to survive, he has to kill the ones that hunted him. Therefore, Rainsford’s motivation is to stay alive and to get off of the island. For example, in the story all Rainsford wants to do is to survive when he figured out the game the general wants to play where man hunts man to the death . Rainsford says,“I must keep my nerve. I must keep my nerve,” (42). Rainsford fights his way through the bush for …show more content…
Rainsford is tired of running and wants to kill Zaroff, so he makes a trap to kill him but kills Ivan instead. In the short story it says,“But the hope that was in Rainsford's brain when he claimed died, for he saw in the shallow valley that General Zaroff was still on his feet, but Ivan was not. The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not failed” (45). The only major consequence Rainsford has is to murder another man in order to survive. He has to kill, even though he does not want to so he can win the game. Rainsford says,“I swam, I found it quicker than walking through the jungle.” The general sucked in his breath and smiled, “I congratulate you, you have won the game” (45). Rainsford kills General Zaroff by surprise so he can leave the island safely. However, when Rainsford tries to kill General Zaroff the first time, although it didn’t wholly fail, he kills him later