Discussion Topic
Details and hints leading up to the reveal of the "game" in "The Most Dangerous Game."
Summary:
Hints leading up to the reveal of the "game" in "The Most Dangerous Game" include the ominous name "Ship-Trap Island," the conversation about hunting between Rainsford and Whitney, and the mysterious gunshots Rainsford hears upon arriving. These clues build suspense and foreshadow the deadly nature of General Zaroff's hunting of human prey.
What are some details revealed in "The Most Dangerous Game"?
I have provided a list of pertinent facts and information provided by the author in "The Most Dangerous Game."
- The protagonist is Sanger Rainsford, a world-renowned big game hunter on his way to hunt jaguars along the Amazon River.
- The antagonist is General Zaroff, a Russian Cossack who loves to hunt but has become bored with many aspects of it.
- The setting is Ship-Trap Island, Zaroff's home located somewhere in the Caribbean Sea.
- The two men meet when Rainsford accidentally falls off his yacht and swims ashore.
- Zaroff's chateau is magnificently furnished, and he seems to enjoy all the luxuries of life, despite his isolation and the remote location of the island.
The dining room to which Ivan conducted him was in many ways remarkable. There was a medieval magnificence about it; it suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast...
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refectory tables where twoscore men could sit down to eat. About the hall were mounted heads of many animals--lions, tigers, elephants, moose, bears; larger or more perfect specimens Rainsford had never seen. At the great table the general was sitting, alone.
- Also living on the island is Zaroff's servant, Ivan--a giant of a man and a former Cossack who served under the general.
- Zaroff cuts an impressive figure:
Rainsford's first impression was that the man was singularly handsome; his second was that there was an original, almost bizarre quality about the general's face. He was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white; but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were as black as the night from which Rainsford had come. His eyes, too, were black and very bright. He had high cheekbones, a sharpcut nose, a spare, dark face--the face of a man used to giving orders, the face of an aristocrat.
What hints are given about the "game" in The Most Dangerous Game before its reveal?
When General Zaroff meets Rainsford for the first time, he doesn't come right out and tell him that he likes to hunt humans. First of all, he presents himself as the epitome of all that's suave and sophisticated, the better to lull Rainsford into a false sense of security. In his ostensibly civilized conversation with Rainsford, Zaroff is effectively stalking him as if he were about to embark upon a tiger hunt.
When the two men start discussing hunting, Zaroff tells Rainsford that he's mistaken in thinking that the Cape buffalo is the most dangerous big game. Immediately, Rainsford must be thinking "What could possibly be more dangerous than a Cape buffalo?" He's an experienced hunter and he certainly can't recall ever having come across a more formidable opponent than this large, dangerous creature.
Later on, Zaroff provides further clues as to what "big game" he now prefers to hunt on Ship-Trap Island. He tells Rainsford that hunting has ceased to be what he calls a "sporting proposition." In other words, he's grown rather bored with hunting mere animals. He seeks a much more interesting quarry, and as Rainsford will soon discover to his horror, this quarry is man, and he's to be the next participant in Zaroff's dastardly game.