Common Themes In Literature

Two Common Themes, Between Different Works of Literature

Themes plays a very important part of any short story, poem, drama or any other kind of literary work and though each literary work may be different, there can be a common theme between them that can truly make the work great. One common theme in “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, “Batter my heart, three-personed God” by John Donne and the drama Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, is the fact that someone or something is searching for someone else and goes to fairly extreme measures to find them, as well as there being a change in a character. In, “The Most Dangerous Game”, Zaroff is searching for Rainsford in what Zaroff calls his game of hunting humans instead of animals. In “Batter

my heart, three-personed God”, God is trying to get a hold of someone who needs a Savior, but the person loves someone else instead. In Les Miserables Inspector Javert tries desperately to bring Jean Valjean back to jail. Change is also a common theme amongst these three literary works. In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford goes from being opposed to Zaroff, to almost taking his position. For “Batter my heart, three-personed God”, the human that God is trying to pursue, that actually loves God as well, says that they love another, which is a switch from their original intentions. The change in Les Miserables, is how Inspector Javert goes from being dead set on hunting down Valjean, to giving up and taking his own life soon afterwards.

Kasperek 2
“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is about a man named Rainsford who, having fallen overboard from a boat, ends up on a rather dark island where he meets a man named General Zaroff, who is a great hunter.

Zaroff at having been successful at hunting every kind of animal has taken up the sport of hunting what he considers to be the best kind of game, “it must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason”(Connell 75). Zaroff is talking about humans. He considers them the best kind of game to hunt, because, they always do something different and are unpredictable in their actions whereas, real animals follow their instincts. Rainsford ends up playing Zaroff’s game of being hunted and if he outwits Zaroff, he will be taken back to the mainland. Rainsford reluctantly agrees to this and is hunted for three days by Zaroff. Rainsford does elude the general and does kill one of his hunting dogs, as well as his main henchman, Ivan, by means of a man catcher and knife. “General Zaroff was still on his feet. But Ivan was not. The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not wholly failed”(Connell 84). As stated, one theme in this short story is the fact that someone is searching for someone else and goes to extreme measures to find them. Zaroff displays this by hunting down Rainsford and doing so for three whole days, as well as, losing his best man, Ivan, and a dog in the process, plus enduring the long

hunt.
Another part of “The Most Dangerous Game” is the part where Rainsford changes and nearly becomes the new Zaroff. At the beginning of the story, Rainsford is appalled at the very fact that Zaroff has taken on the sport of hunting humans. “But you can’t mean—“ gasped Rainsford. “And why not?” “I can’t believe you are serious, General Zaroff”(Connell 75). This response from Rainsford shows that he still has a clear conscious and good morals, whereas, Zaroff seems to have lost his morals in the pursuit of becoming the best hunter around. As the
Kasperek 3
story progresses, Rainsford seams to undergo a kind of change, that is quite shocking. In the process of being hunted like an animal, it appears that Rainsford starts to lose his own morals. By deciding to not just run and outwit Zaroff, but to lay traps for him to kill him. He does not kill Zaroff, but instead takes the life of another man, and a hunting dog. Perhaps the most shocking part of Rainsfords’ change in character, is at the end, when instead of taking a boat back to civilization after outwitting the General, he literally becomes the General. Rainsford says, “I am still a beast at bay,” he said, in a low, hoarse voice. “Get ready, General Zaroff”(Connell 85). It then appears that he kills Zaroff and thinks “he had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided”(Connell 85). The ending to this story is somewhat surprising as it seems that in the process of being hunted like a wild animal, Rainsford becomes an animal himself.
The poem “Batter my heart, three-personed God” by John Donne, shows a similar theme to the short story already described. There is searching, to a very extreme amount and change is demonstrated in one of the characters. The poem is about a human that God wishes to draw close to him but, there is a friction between the human and his choice of turning to God. As the beginning of the poem goes, “Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you / as yet but knock, breath, shine, and seek to mend”(Donne lines 1-2). This shows the determination of God to try to heal the broken heart of a lost soul who needs God. The determination and power of God is also shown in the line, “your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new”(Donne line 4). These characteristics of God are true for all men who are pursued by God need His love that he shows to try to make us turn to him and become new.

Kasperek 4
Another theme in this poem is where the human does love God and it seems like willing to turn to him, but then there is a change. “Yet dearly I love you and would be loved fain, / but am betrothed unto your enemy”(Connell lines 9-10). This change in the mind of the human is very similar to many other humans in real life. They love God, but they think that since they have turned away from him and have chosen to follow the devil, they cannot become one of God’s children. Though a sad statement, it is something that is fairly common in the minds of many non-believers. However, many do not realize that if they repent of their sins, God will forgive them and they can live with God forever, regardless of the mistakes that were made in the past. This change in the poem, “Batter my heart, three-personed God”, shows that even though the human loves God, they believe they cannot love and turn to him because, they have chosen to follow the devil instead.
The final literary work that has a common theme to the other two previously listed works is the drama Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. This drama is about an ex-convict named Jean Valjean, who at being released from prison after serving nineteen years is being pursued by Inspector Javert. Valjean after being released from prison tried stealing silver from a bishop who later forgave Valjean when he was caught and was told by the bishop to go and live a decent life and was pardoned from his sin by the bishop who may have represented God. So in trying to live an honest life, Valjean takes on a new identity and becomes the Mayor of a town as well as the owner of a factory. However, to do this Valjean broke his parole and is being chased by Inspector Javert as a result. Javert has made pretty much his sole mission to recapture Valjean and put him behind bars once again. Valjean is confronted by Javert at his factory and Javert thinks he recognizes Valjean, but Valjean
Kasperek 5
dismisses his claims so as not to blow his cover. However, Valjean’s conscience nags at him as he remembers that he is trying to be an honest man, but, if he turns himself in, all his employees who are women, could become homeless and suffer. To make matters harder for him, a man is captured and will take Valjean’s punishment so if he remains silent, he will suffer internally. Valjean decides to turn himself in but the court does not believe him, except for Javert, who ends up chasing him for pretty much the rest of his life.
The character who changes in the drama is Javert and his change is not a pleasant thing. Latter in the story Javert is captured by rebels during the revolts in France and Valjean is given the choice of killing Javert for the good of the rebellion. He chooses to let Inspector Javert go which is a complete shock for the Inspector who has not shown any real mercy to anyone because of his devotion to the law. Latter Javert catches up with Valjean, who is carrying an injured man after the rebellion has passed and tells Valjean that if he takes another step, he will shoot both of them, except he doesn’t shoot them he lets them go instead so Valjean can nurse the man back to health. After all this has passed Javert is so confused as to why Valjean sparred his life instead of killing him, which he expected to happen. Javert, who cannot understand what has happened to him, gives up the chase and commits suicide so as to be gone from the world of Jean Valjean. The change that happens to Inspector Javert is he goes from hunting down Valjean until he is captured to killing himself because he cannot comprehend the mercy Valjean has shown him and wants to be free of men like Valjean.
The main theme of each of these literary works is how someone or something is pursuing something else at a tremendous effort and how there is a change that happens to a character. In
Kasperek 6
“The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford goes from being a human who respects human life and getting hunted to becoming just like General Zaroff and killing other humans. For “Batter my heart, three-personed God” a human is pursued by God, who wants to show love and change the person’s life to rejecting God because the human has chosen to follow Satan and does not understand that God can forgive them as well as show them the love they desperately need. In the drama Les Miserables, the main character Jean Valjean is being chased by Inspector Javert because he has broken his parole and towards the end Valjean chooses to show Javert mercy by sparing his life. Javert does not understand why Valjean sparred his life and he changes by going from a man who’s one mission is to capture Valjean, to giving up the chase and killing himself. Each one of these literary works, though different, does have the same common theme, of having someone being chased and later having someone’s life change.