Comparing The Most Dangerous Game And The Story Of An Hour

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Literary Analysis Essay Neil Shusterman once said, “Death must exist for life to have meaning.” This same logic can be applied to literature. Often, death scenes are the most powerful ones and can give meaning to a story. Authors take advantage of this and deliberately write their death scenes to help reveal much larger themes of a story. Both Richard Connell and Kate Chopin use this technique in “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Story of an Hour” to give their stories greater meaning. Although General Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Game” and Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” deaths are very different, they both reveal the greater themes of the two stories: Zaroff's death helps to reveal that deep down all humans have beast-like …show more content…

Rainsford has done a complete 180 and has become a ‘huntee’ by letting his beast-like senses take over the minute danger was near. This goes to show that no matter how well-mannered and refined one acts, deep down all humans have the same barbaric instincts as animals. We will do anything for survival, and Rainsford's character development is the perfect example of this. Without Rainsford deciding to kill General Zaroff, the themes of instinct and human nature wouldn't have been able to be as fleshed out and developed as they were. Similarly, the death of Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” plays an important role in revealing the theme of the story; historically, freedom has been very difficult for women to find. At the beginning of the story, Louise was under the impression that her husband had died in a tragic train accident. While this did initially bring her some sadness, an overwhelming sense of freedom quickly overcame these emotions: “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin 2). The death of her

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