Foreshadowing In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

Foreshadowing is a beneficial literary device that may be most salutary once the reader has completed the passage. In the short story,“The Most Dangerous Game”, author Richard Connell uses foreshadowing to expose General Zaroff as a bloodthirsty cannibal to his readers.

Connell consistently makes reference to the cannibalism foreshadowed throughout the short story. He explains physical and physiological attributes to describe Zaroff as the ‘bloodthirsty’ cannibal he is made out to be. The most distinct attributes of a cannibal that Connell reveals in the story is his “red lips and pointed teeth”(6). The author described him as if he were a vampire; which was a sign to readers that he had identical attributes of the preying bloodthirsty monster. This was a clear sign to the readers that there was danger in the future for the characters involved with him in the story.

Consequently, it is revealed through foreshadowing that some of the general’s tactics may be a result of a cannibalistic nature. In the text the author labels Zarroff’s kind as savages: “I’m afraid like all his race a bit of a savage”(6). Before the generals cannibalistic nature is unveiled, the author begins to reveal the blood-curdling reality of this desolate, dreary, and daunting island by foreshadowing the “savage” ways of the