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Dylan Le
Mrs. Hunt
English I
16 December 2013
A life or Death Game of Hunt
The story, The Most Dangerous Game, is a story I encourage you to read. It won
several awards like one, for an example the O. Henry award for a short fiction story. The story
concerns a big-game hunter, who is known to be Sanger Rainsford, trapped on the island of a
sadistic fellow hunter by falling overboard from a yacht on his way to go hunt panthers in the
Amazon, who, bored with the conventional prey, has come to see humans as the only quarry
worthy of his skill. Zaroff has many resources to help him hunt Rainsford including a big pack of
hunting dogs. Rainsford must use his skill and knowledge to help escape from being killed. The
protagonist, Sanger Rainsford, is a level headed, brave, world renowned big-game hunter who
confronts the nature of life and death for the first time in his life during his few frightening days
on Ship-Trap Island.
Rainsford has some minor distinguished attributes helping him survive against his foe,
General Zaroff, such as being a world renowned big-game hunter. He uses his wits and physical
prowess to outwit General Zaroff. Rainsford, called the general, if you are within my voice, let
me congratulate you not many men know how to make a Malay man catcher. (Connell 38) This
quote clearly shows that Rainsford was able outsmart his opponent physically. He thought of a
native trick he had learned in Uganda. (Connell 56) In other words of this quote, it means that
he had been to other places like Uganda using his skill of being an amazing hunter. His other
two characteristics that involve Rainsford are his bravery and level headed mind.

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There are several examples on how Rainsford is a level headed man. He tries to remain
serene even though he is in a lot of life threatening positions. The lights of the yacht vanishing
like fireflies as I swim to an Island, then I blotted out the whole entire night. (Connell 42) This
quote demonstrates on how calm and composed Rainsford was, not even panicking and he was
trying to be level headed. He was able to handle any challenger with a cool head. He heard
hounds, and then leaped for the sea. (Connell 57) This quote means he was able to keep calm
while a vicious pack of hounds were trying to consume him, so he jumped into the sea in a calm
manner. His last but not least of his trait is his Bravery.
Added to Rainsford level headed mind is his bravery. Rainsford being brave has helped
him with his victory against General Zaroff. If it werent for Rainsford bravery, he would have
died against General Zaroff or maybe even died swimming to Ship-Trap Island. Rainsford had
dug himself in in France when a seconds delay meant death. (Connell 39) This quote displays
that he was brave enough to do such a thing like that during war. His bravery skill has helped
him face against the pack of brutal, barbaric hounds. For example, Rainsford knew he could do
one of the two things. He could stay where he was and wait or flee. (Connell 40) To translate
this quote, he wasnt scared enough to do what he was doing and by doing that, he survived for
three days and General Zaroff was eaten by his own dogs because he lost the game.
In the final analysis, after the few days on Ship-Trap Island, Rainsford was able to
confront life and death for the first time, knowing how difficult and frightening it can be. He did
this by using his three main characteristics which is, his brave, level headed, and his skills of
being a world renowned hunter. The only way he survived for three days against General Zaroff
is by using his attributes. If he hadnt used his sets of skills he would have been devoured by
General Zaroffs Dogs. The Most Dangerous Game is a short fiction story that will leave you

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at the edge of your seat this is one of the few reasons why the story won an O. Henry Award in
1924.

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