this is the detail explanation of the short story the most dangerous game

1. THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
- RICHARD EDWARD
CONNELL

2. “WHEN A MAN
WANTS TO MURDER
A TIGER HE CALLS
IT SPORT;
WHEN A TIGER
WANTS TO MURDER
HIM HE CALLS IT
FEROCITY.”
—GEORGE BERNARD
SHAW

3. CONTENTSCONTENTS
 Author’s Introduction
 About the story
 Characters
 Plot development
 Summary
 Interpretations
 Short Movie

4. ABOUT THE AUTHORABOUT THE AUTHOR
 Born In New York. (October 17, 1893 – November
22, 1949)
 Began his career at a young age when he did some
time in jail for his father
 Became fascinating writer at the age of 10
 He graduated from Harvard in 1915.
 His works include
- Apes and Angels(1924)
- Mad Lover(1927)
- The Most dangerous Game

5. THE STORY IS ABOUTTHE STORY IS ABOUT
Genre: Short Story
Point of view : Third person limited
Setting—Ship Trap Island
Protagonist- Rainsford
Antagonist- zaroff
External Conflict—Struggle with an
outside force.
 Man vs. Man: Rainsford vs. Zaroff,
Rainsford vs. Ivan
 Man vs. Nature: Rainsford vs. the Sea,
Rainsford vs. the jungle/island

6. CONTD…..
 Man vs. Beast: Rainsford vs. the dogs
Internal Conflict—Struggle within oneself.
 Man vs. Man: Rainsford struggles with fear,
morality of hunting
 Man vs. Fate: Rainsford struggles with dying
Theme-Theme-
 Hunting is cruel.
 Don’t hunt humans.

7. CHARACTERSCHARACTERS
Sanger Rainsford,Sanger Rainsford,
-Renowned Hunter
- Skilled
- Clever
- Proud of his profession
- Keen observer
- Protagonist--Main Character

8. General Zaroff,General Zaroff,
- Ex-army man
- Hospitable
- Fearless
- Desires for more
- In-human & Insane
- Over confident
- Skilled
- Sophisticated

9. Ivan,Ivan,
Zaroff's Russian servant, body guard and hunting
partner. Ivan is a giant, he is deaf, mute and dull.
Whitney,Whitney,
Rainsford's friend who appears briefly in the
introduction, wondering what it would be like if he
were the hunted instead of the hunter.

10. PLOT – SEQUENCE OF EVENTSPLOT – SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
Exposition --introduces the
characters, background and
setting
Rising Action –adds
complications leads to
the climax
Falling action –the action
that is a result of the
climax
Resolution –tells or
implies the outcome of
the story
Climax-highest point of action or
interest. A moment of great
emotional intensity or suspense in a
plot

11. PLOT DIAGRAMPLOT DIAGRAM
Setting: Ship-Trap Island
Protagonist -- Rainsford
Antagonist -- Zaroff
•Rainsford jumps over the cliff to
escape from Zaroff
•Rainsford is hunted by Zaroff
•Rainsford swims to Ship-Trap
Island after falling off the yacht
Rainsford hides in
Zaroff’s room
Rainsford and Zaroff fight
Rainsford
kills Zaroff

12. SUMMARYSUMMARY
 Rainsford and Whitney, head towards Amazon
rain forest
 Whitney mentions about the Ship Trap island
 Rainsford ignores what Whitney has to say
 Considers hunting as the best sport
 Ignores the feeling of the hunted
 Whitney mentions about the fear of pain and fear
of death

13.  Later Rainsford goes for the sleep
 Wakes up hearing the 3 shots of
gun
 Leaps on the rail to see what has
happened
 Lost his balance and fell off the
ship
 Swims and lands on the island
 Follows the sound he hears
 Follows the trail of the hunting
boots
 Sights an enormous building

14.  Opens the iron gate and finds a
gigantic creature (Ivan) standing
with a revolver
 Ivan- Deaf and Dumb
 Another man enters ‘General
Zaroff’- a Russian noble
 Appears to be a generous host
 Loves hunting but is bored by
killing animals
 He says, ‘ There is no greater bore
than perfection’

15.  But he has found a new animal to hunt
 That animal has courage, is cunning and able to
reason
 Rainsford confused about which animal is
General Zaroff talking about
 General then says that he has chosen to hunt
humans
 This makes it Most Dangerous Game

16.  Rainsford shocked and amazed with
what he has heard
 He is confused as to know where
does these men come from
 The General simply mentions that
the island is the Ship Trap
Island…..
 The general had dozens of trapped
pupils, collection of heads and
hounds
 Rainsford asked him what he
would do if in case he refused to
play the game

17.  General persuaded him by saying
that if he caught him within three
days the general would kill him ,
if not the general would be
defeated
 General himself would use only a
small caliber pistol
 General suggests him to avoid the
"Death Swamp”
 Ivan bought a supply of food,
hunting clothes and a knife
 He was given moccasins and a
three hours start

18.  He set to the woods and
assured to maintain a distance
between himself and Zaroff.
 Taking care not to leave the
slightest mark, he climbed the
tree
The First DayThe First Day

19. The Second DayThe Second Day
 The general came searching with an
automatic pistol
 The general went away with a smile
as he turned back
 Rainsford made, what the general
called a "Malay man-catcher" to trap
the general
 But only the generals shoulders got
hurt
 That night he set to prepare another
trap " the Burmese tiger pit"
 One of the General’s best hounds got
killed

20. The Third DayThe Third Day
Rainsford was awakened by the sound of the
hounds
A trick Rainsford learnt in Uganda came up on
his mind
Through this trick he managed to kill Ivan
That night general Zaroff had a great dinner
but two slight annoyance disturbed him
He saw Rainsford behind the curtains in his
room
At last, Rainsford managed to kill Zaroff and
get rid of his terror

21. INTERPRETATIONINTERPRETATION
 fear of death and the fear of pain is same in case of
both human beings and animals.
 ‘A wearer only knows where the shoe pinches.’ In
order to fully understand others, we must first walk in
their shoes. Rainsford now knows what it feels like to
be the “prey.” He may be a more compassionate hunter
now.
 makes us feel how inhuman it is to hunt animals just
for the sake of fun and hence it should be discourage.