Theme Of Nature In The Most Dangerous Game

“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is an interesting story about avid hunter Sanger Rainsford. He falls off of a yacht and swims to an island called “shiptrap island”. He finds himself being hunted by the crazy General Zaroff. General Zaroff had grown bored of hunting animals since they did not give the general the danger and excitement he craved. His solution was to build a house on a deserted island and bring humans there, so he could hunt them. Ironically, this time the person that happens to find the island is a hunter also. Zaroff gives Rainsford a bag of food, a large hunting knife, hunting clothes, and gives him a few hour head start. If Rainsford can survive for three days in the woods, while being hunted by Zaroff, then he is free to go. There are many themes in “The Most Dangerous Game” by Connell, but the most significant are man versus himself, the battle, and man versus nature.

When Rainsford falls off the yacht in to the warm Caribbean ocean, he has to fight his way to shore. When he reaches land, he is so relieved and believes he is out of danger. Connell establishes this by the passage “All he knew was that he was safe from his enemy, the sea.” In the end, Rainsford has to jump into the ocean to get away from General Zaroff. He has to swim back to the shore again. Another man versus nature example would be that Rainsford had to survive in the jungle for three days. He had to find places in the jungle where he would not get eaten or