Compare And Contrast Hunger Games And The Most Dangerous

In the popular stories The Hunger Games and “The Most Dangerous Game” the main characters are skilled hunters that are partaking in games where they have to hunt while being hunted. They both show main traits of “true survivors”, including using their hunting knowledge to survive, using resources and building traps, and standing up to their fear or being able to turn it around.

Katniss and Rainsford both used their hunting knowledge to survive their challenges. Examples include when Katniss was looking for Peeta and found blood on the ground that could have easily been missed. When Katniss was at home she would look for the faint tracks of animals to hunt for food and applying these to the game helped her in finding Peeta. Rainsford also

knew how to track animals and what would make it harder, even for the best hunters. He used his knowledge of “Fox lore” to overlap and loop his tracks around each other. He did not manage to outsmart Zaroff with his confusing tracks but it was important for him to know what Zaroff was capable of. Both Katniss and Rainsford were skilled in climbing trees and knew that having the high ground was important in these sort of situations. Rainsford used the high ground to watch Zaroff from a distance safely and Katniss used it to be out of sight and have a safe place to rest without fear of being hunted.
The two hunters knew how to build effective traps and use their resources to scare the others.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss was shown the nest of tracker jackers above where Cato and his group of people were camping out. The group was waiting for Katniss to come into sight after hiding in a tree but she cut the branch the nest was lying on and the tracker jackers caused the group extreme pain and even a death as everyone ran. Katniss scared the group away and retrieved a bow from one of them. There was a great chance of her being dead if there was no nest. In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford built a trap called a Malay man-catcher. He built it of trees that he found and hoped that General Zaroff would set it off. He did but unfortunately only his shoulder was hurt, but Rainsford did not give up on his traps. He next built a Burmese tiger-pit out of digging a hole and then using sticks, leaves, and other brush to hide the sharp stakes he had placed in the hole. This trap was again not lethal to Zaroff but this time one of his best dogs was lost. The General realized that he could no longer take Rainsford on by himself and had to bring the rest of his pack of dogs to try to hunt Rainsford. This can be used as an example of fear because Zaroff has only needed to use the dogs once before while hunting and he also had to bring Ivan with. Zaroff could not handle that he had a possibility of losing a hunt and Rainsford made him understand that not everything could be

won.
Rainsford and Katniss both stood up to their fear of the people trying to control them. In The Hunger Games, Katniss and the other tributes had no choice but to fight for their lives. Some had volunteered for their districts but there was no doubt that 23 would die so one could survive. President Snow and Seneca had complete control over the games. Katniss was terrified when she was on the pedestal and at the beginning of the games but she stood up to that fear and used it for the better. When she and Peeta were the only two tributes left they were going to eat poisonous berries together so there would be no winner in spite of the unfair rule change set by President Snow. The government in the Capitol were scared because they needed a victor for hope and to try to make the games seem fair but they could end up without one. Katniss and Peeta won together by turning their fear of their own death into the Capitol’s fear of their death. Rainsford also turned his fear and discomfort around while Zaroff was hunting him. In “The Most Dangerous Game” Rainsford had been found yet ignored by Zaroff. “The general was saving him for another days sport! The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror,” (Connell, 18). Rainsford had never felt such terror but he was able to use it as a motive. In the end of the story, Rainsford jumps into the sea and Zaroff assumes he is dead. Once he returned to his home for dinner he was upset and could not stop thinking about how he could not kill Rainsford. When he finally started to relax and get ready to sleep, Rainsford was hiding in the curtain somehow from the sea. This caught General Zaroff off guard and terrified him causing Rainsford to be able to send him to his demise. Rainsford turned his fear of death to Zaroff by catching him at a time where he was most vulnerable.
A true survivor knows how to overcome their challenges and use their knowledge to stay alive. Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games and Rainsford of “The Most Dangerous Game” show these skills in multiple different areas, including using their strengths in knowledge, using resources for trapping, and using fear in a different way. They have earned the titles of true survivors.