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The Most Dangerous Game Sanger Rainsford Character Analysis

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“Hunting? Good God, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder,” exclaimed Sanger Rainsford. Oftentimes, the line between right and wrong is blurred. “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a story that discusses the line and how thin it can be drawn. Sanger Rainsford stands on one side of the line and General Zaroff on the other. Through his brave nature, Rainsford drives the book’s theme of sticking to one’s beliefs. In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford is shown as brave, intelligent, and passionate. Rainsford is shown to be courageous in the story when he jumps off the cliff. “A blue gap showed between the trees dead ahead. Ever nearer drew the hounds. Rainsford forced himself on toward that gap. He …show more content…

Typically, when you meet a person for the first time, you don’t point a gun at their chest. His assumption turned out to be correct because Ivan ends up torturing and killing people. “‘Tonight,’ said the general,’we will hunt-you and I.’ Rainsford shook his head. ‘No, General,’ he said. ‘I will not hunt.’ The general shrugged his shoulders and delicately ate a hothouse grape. ‘As you wish, my friend,’ he said. ‘The choice rests entirely with you. But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport more diverting than Ivan’s?’ He nodded toward the corner to where the giant stood, scowling, his thick arms crossed on the hogshead of chest. ‘You don’t mean-’ cried Rainsford.” (Connell 73 and 74) This quote supports the theme because Rainsford trust’s his gut about Ivan and he turns out to be right. When Rainsford first met Zaroff and he told him that he hunted humans, Rainsford was totally against it. He was so confused. He didn’t know why someone would ever hunt humans. He stuck to that belief throughout the entire story and ended up surviving. “Rainsford’s bewilderment showed in his face. ‘I wanted the ideal animal to hunt,’ explained the general. ‘So I said: ‘what are the attributes of an ideal quarry?’ And the answer was, of course: ‘It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason.’ ‘But no animal can reason,’ objected Rainsford. ‘My dear fellow,’ said the general, ‘there is one that can.’ ‘But you can’t mean-’ gasped Rainsford. ‘And why not?’ ‘I can’t believe you are serious, General Zaroff. This is a grisly joke.’ ‘Why should I not be serious? I am speaking of hunting.’ ‘Hunting? Good God, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder.’” (Connell, 69 and 70) This quote supports the theme because Rainsford keeps believing that it’s not okay to hunt humans and he ends up surviving. Another example of sticking with what you

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He then finds a chateau where he meets General Zaroff, a sophisticated man, who proves to be civilized in his own ways. Rainsford respects the general at first thinking he was a true gentleman. That was until Rainsford finds out about the general’s cruel big game. Since the general has gotten bored of hunting animals, he has a new tough crave to hunt human beings, the only animal that can reason thus face him with a challenge. He also arrogantly claims that he once had to break the rules to be able to maintain the record of him never losing at this game.

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Most Dangerous Game Argumentation Paragraph The story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is about Sanger Rainsford ends up on an island with General Zaroff, who hunts humans. Rainsford ends up playing General Zaroff’s game and becomes the huntee while Zaroff is the hunter. Zaroff loses the game and gets killed by Rainsford.

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Andy: Imagine you are stranded on an island, starving and thirsty. You have managed to build a fire and have pushed through countless rainy nights. You are using the skills of a survivor. These skills have been used by other survivors such as Hyeonseo Lee, a North Korean who escaped her country. Aron Ralston uses survival traits to survive being trapped in between a boulder and a wall of rock.

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It is a fundamental and enduring part of who we are, even in our darkest moments. Rainsford is an example of this idea as he grapples with the ethical implications of hunting other humans. As a professional big-game hunter, Rainsford’s sense of morality is initially rigid and well-defined. However, through the course of his harrowing experience on Zaroff's island, Rainsford undergoes a transformation. Moody’s quotation about character in the dark is a powerful tool for analyzing Rainsford's character in The Most Dangerous Game.

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In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” , Rainsford is the positive force in a classic good vs. evil showdown against a psychopathic man-hunter. For example, Rainsford non - evilness is displayed when he declines General Zaroff’s “ We will hunt - you and I,” (10). This is substantial evidence towards Rainsford morals and integrity as a human. Based on the short story, a good and decent person would not want to hunt someone, it is an act of cold blood.

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In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” Sanger Rainsford is forced to test his survival skills while he is intensely hunted by an experienced war general named General Zaroff. In this story, Rainsford exhibits some very helpful characteristics like his resourcefulness, his strategic planning, and his ability to reason. As a result of Rainsford’s questioning the validity of General Zaroff’s hunting methods, he ended up playing in the game. Although I believe Rainsford is a very helpful, interesting, and dynamic character, at the end of the story, he must give up his own personal morals to win the game.

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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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Hunters believe animals are not capable of reasoning and they see them as something lesser than humans. Throughout time, these positions can change. The short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell, consists of General Zaroff being the hunter and Rainsford being the hunted. During the story, their positions change to the complete opposite.

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“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a story about a man, Sanger Rainsford, whose ideals and overall character change throughout the story, specifically about hunting, due to his encounter with General Zaroff. At the beginning of the story Rainsford is a stuck up man. He could not care less about any other living things other than humans. He believes all living wildlife are expendable and only there for his pleasure of hunting. During the story Rainsford has to make many quick and overall difficult decisions during his encounters with the ocean, General Zaroff, and the island wilderness to survive, that change how he thinks about animals.

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He wants to leave right away. Rainsford was antsy but after spending more time on the island he became nervous especially when Zaroff said “The hunting was not good last night. The fellow lost his head. He made a straight trail that offered no problems at all. (Connell 30).

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Although, now it seems that Rainsford has adopted General Zaroff's cold attitude toward killing humans, so if Rainsford has changed, it was not to a better person but to a worse. From first no sympathy for animals to no sympathy for men. One way it seems that way is he kills Ivan with no pang of guilt. Some might say that's not murder that's just self-defense. But if that's the case then why does Rainsford after claiming victory and safety from death go to Zaroff's room at night and kills him.

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961 Words | 4 Pages

In “The most dangerous game” written by, Richard Connell, he uses many devices such as: characterization, plot structure and theme to contribute to the overall meaning of the story. Characterization is a big part of the overall meaning of the story which is that survival is of those who are smart, cunning, and can adapt to their environment. The protagonist Rainsford is at a constant battle with the antagonist General Zaroff. Throughout the entire short story they both have similar minds sets and then farther along the main character 's mind set develops into something more. The reader can almost sense a self centeredness, and that he believes that there are only two type of people in this world, “the hunters and the huntees”, and he believes that he is the hunter.

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Firstly, in the story The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford is justified in killing General Zaroff because on the island the only way to live is if the stranded people hunt or the stranded will in contrast become the ones being hunted. In the beginning of the story Rainsford is talking to Whitney about jaguars. Whitney is stating that the jaguars must feel some sort of feeling like fear or terror but in contrast Rainsford states that the jaguars have no understanding of feelings. Then Rainsford is put on a island where he symbolically represents the jaguar and General Zaroff would symbolically represent the hunter.

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General Zaroff is different, to say the least, in Richard Connell’s book, “The Most Dangerous Game.” Rainsford is stranded on a deserted island, or so he thinks. Rainsford comes upon a mansion that is owned by General Zaroff. He knows of Rainsford, who is a renowned author of a book about the hunt, as well as everything and everywhere Rainsford has hunted. General Zaroff is also a hunter, but he goes to the extreme.

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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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