The most dangerous game by richard connell

After falling overboard from a yacht, Sanger Rainsford swims to a nearby island. There General Zaroff, a big-game hunter who knows of Rainsford from published accounts of his hunting snow leopards in Tibet, invites him to dinner.

Update: It's been almost five years since I read this short story as a freshman in high school and recently I read Zodiac by Robert Graysmith. Since becoming familiar with the killings the Zodiac executed, as well as the possible ones he may have committed, I wanted to reread this short story. Zodiac pretty much copies all of Zaroff's obsession with hunting humans. It's quite fascinating to read such an old short story that has hints of the psychological stamping that most serial killers have: a hatred of others he is the same race and background as Ivan and undermines his intelligence , feeling superiority, the need to dominate. It's a very interesting story, but it sets me on edge and I feel dirty reading it.

The most dangerous game by richard connell

Sailors have a curious dread of the place. I don't know why. Some superstition--". I hope the jaguar guns have come from Purdey's. We should have some good hunting up the Amazon. Great sport, hunting. Who cares how a jaguar feels? The fear of pain and the fear of death. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters. Do you think we've passed that island yet? Even cannibals wouldn't live in such a God-forsaken place.

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Sailors have a curious dread of the place. I don't know why. Some superstition--". I hope the jaguar guns have come from Purdey's. We should have some good hunting up the Amazon. Great sport, hunting. Who cares how a jaguar feels? The fear of pain and the fear of death. Be a realist.

The most dangerous game by richard connell

Their discussion centers on their chosen sport, big game hunting, and whether wild animals have any fear when they are being stalked by humans. Although he survives the fall, Rainsford is savvy enough to get to shore by following the direction suggested by the shots. However, upon his arrival at Ship Trap Island, the safety he anticipates is not evident; instead he is faced with a ragged jungle environment and evidence of a fierce struggle that has recently occurred there. Ultimately, Rainsford makes his way inland and, to his surprise, he discovers a palatial chateau, which he initially feels is a mirage, but he eventually finds that the house is occupied by a General Zaroff, a military aristocrat with a deaf mute servant of extraordinary strength whose name is Ivan. Indeed, his feudal dining room is decorated with the heads of many of his animal kills, including elephants, tigers, and bears. As the two discover what they consider to be the most dangerous game animal, the reader begins to recognize that the general is far from humane in his pursuit of the sport. Rather, as Zaroff recounts his career to Rainsford, it becomes clear that the general now finds lower animals less of a challenge. Bored with their ability to offer him competition, Zaroff had retreated to this isolated primitive jungle exclusively to hunt the only animal that reasons: men. Zaroff clearly expresses his belief that even his human prey are an inferior species—the weak of the world—but individuals whom he trains to make them competitive to his superior skills. He then offers the individual he hunts a game of cat and mouse.

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I've one rather promising prospect--" Rainsford was hurrying from the room. The trap injures Zaroff's shoulder, forcing him to return home for treatment, but he calls out his respect for Rainsford's ingenuity as he leaves. 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. A timeless and exciting tale. Shipping details Estimated ship dimensions: 0. Then he cowered back. Be different from your email address. The lights of the yacht became faint and ever-vanishing fireflies; then they were blotted out entirely by the night. Article Talk. After a fitful night of insomnia and light dozing, the sound of a distant pistol shot awakens him in the early morning. He leaped upon the rail and balanced himself there, to get greater elevation; his pipe, striking a rope, was knocked from his mouth.

On a yacht in the Caribbean, Sanger Rainsford is a hunter famed for his skills, preparing for a hunting trip up the Amazon in South America with his friend Whitney, who tells him about some strange superstitions involving a nearby island. That night, Rainsford hears gunshots and falls into the sea. He swims for the shore, and hears the strange cries of an animal he is unfamiliar with and realises it is being hunted.

I feel immature for saying this but I laughed at how Rainsford ended up becoming shipwrecked. The revolver pointing as rigidly as if the giant were a statue. I have but one passion in my life, Mr. He heard the hounds. Ask a question. He was a very rich man with a quarter of a million acres in the Crimea, and he was an ardent sportsman. It was to a huge, beam-ceilinged bedroom with a canopied bed big enough for six men that Rainsford followed the silent giant. Whitney goes below to turn in for the night while Rainsford enjoys a smoke of his favourite pipe on deck. On the island, he finds a palatial chateau inhabited by two Cossacks: the owner, General Zaroff, and his gigantic deaf-mute servant, Ivan. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. He was solicitous about the state of Rainsford's health. All he knew was that he was safe from his enemy, the sea, and that utter weariness was on him. I have hunted every kind of game in every land. He tried to wrench it back, but the muck sucked viciously at his foot as if it were a giant leech.