Suspense In The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

Everyone enjoys a story with an interesting plot that keeps them on their toes. In The Most Dangerous Game, Richard Connell captivates his readers using suspense. In his story, there is a shipwrecked hunter facing another hunter with a very different mindset. As the hunters go through events that create anticipation, the readers’ thoughts are proven to be nothing but the standard of what most think. As we read The Most Dangerous Game, Connell effectively uses symbolism, dialogue and cliffhangers to build on suspense in a way his readers don’t expect.

When we think about the game that lies in The Most Dangerous Game, we tend to get wonders from the passage especially when Richard Connell is the type of author not going to directly

It is between Rainsford and Zaroff as an agreement settles. Zaroff hunts Rainsford for the thrill of the chase and if Rainsford appears superior, he is given his freedom off the island. As the game begins, the nights move in a rather avid appeal to the readers. It starts to leave us wondering who even makes it alive, also known as cliffhangers. A move that helps the story regain its power in the suspense which Connell conveys when writing The Most Dangerous Game. Rainsford is left to his thinking to make his way out of the jungle alive with Zaroff on the loose. As he is a hunter, he hasn't had experience in the field of being prey. Rainsford uses his hunter’s mind to trick the hunter, Zaroff, to lure him into traps. “His need for rest was imperative and he thought, "I have played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable"(12). As he was wary of how his traps would lay out, “He lived a year in a minute”(14). As the nights pass, the various traps are being set out; obstacles also appear. “Then, as he stepped forward, his foot sank into the ooze.”(13) This illustrates the suspense Rainsford experiences as his life was being threatened to create the thoughts in the reader’s minds that the events portrays; suspended thoughts. Thoughts can only make us question if he makes it out alive or not. As the thoughts continue, the nights pass by. The final chase leaves us to wonder who makes it out as prey and hunter. Especially when Rainsford is on the run for survival while being chased by Zaroff and his canines. (Quote). Zaroff assumed that Rainsford was dead and he continued off to his chateau. Richard Connell wraps up the story with something of the unexpected yet again. He creates a miracle for Rainsford as he was said to have overcome the high waters of the sea. Zaroff, remaining shocked, accepts defeat while Rainsford has something else in mind; to hunt Zaroff in the darkness of the night.