Rainsford Character Analysis Essay

“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. His decisions ultimately do help him survive in the long run, while making him a better person

"‘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”(Connell, Paragraph 106-108) He knows that General Zaroff is about to hunt him. When General Zaroff asks Rainsford to “play the game” he immediately reverts to himself as a soldier in World War One, in the sense that he knows he has to fight even if he doesn’t want to. “The general laughed with entire good nature. He regarded Rainsford quizzically. ‘I refuse to believe that so modern and civilized a young man as you seem to be harbors romantic ideas about the value of human life. Surely your experiences in the war--’‘Did not make me condone cold-blooded murder,’ finished Rainsford stiffly(Connell, Paragraph 113-114). His tactics to survive are brutal, but it’s what he has to do. He makes traps for Zaroff to fall into, tried to crush the General with a tree and stabs Ivan, General Zaroff’s personal bodyguard. Overall he realizes how the jaguar must feel and is quick to use his reason and understanding to give himself a better chance of survival. In the long run, it does help him to survive and save however many people Zaroff had kidnapped in the