The Most Dangerous Game
In the story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, Rainsford, a hunter, finds himself stranded on an island and encountering a wealthy, cruel-hearted man, General Zaroff, who plans to kill him. Not satisfied hunting animals, General Zaroff, a skilled hunter, decides to hunt much larger game- humans, including Rainsford! Rainsford's cleverness helps him to survive and overcome his enemy, General Zaroff. Rainsford deals with many conflicts in the forest, and in his own mind. The essay below will explain the internal and external conflicts Rainsford solves with his cleverness.
Rainsford agonizes over how to escape from General Zaroff. Once, Rainsford even gets stuck in some quicksand, but he manages to struggle out. The soft texture of the quicksand gives Rainsford an idea as to how he might kill General Zaroff. "He stepped back from the quicksand a dozen feet or so, and like some huge prehistoric beaver, he began to dig" (LL. 56). Therefore, Rainsford's resourcefulness helps him make a trap using his surrounding environment. Unfortunately, the trap does not capture the General, but a dog instead. "Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs" (LL. 56). Capturing the General's best dog makes it easier for Rainsford to win the game. Rainsford's ingenuity got him out of this external conflict.
Rainsford travels all around the world, and learns a great deal from the different places he visits. Again, the General makes it difficult for Rainsford to escape. Luckily, Rainsford remembers how to make use of his environmental surroundings. Rainsford displays inventiveness again by making a knife swing by the recoil of a tree. "He had caught hold of a springy young sapling, and to it he fastened his knife, with the blade pointing down the trail; with a bit of wild grapevine he tied back the sapling" (LL 57). Rainsford's plan of hitting the General with the knife is not successful, but it does kill his enormous guard. "But...
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