The Most Dangerous Game Theme Analysis

The Most Dangerous Game Theme
With animals when we track them down and kill them is called hunting, but when we do the same activities to humans it is unlawful and considered murder. Meanwhile we see a similar conflict in the short story The Most Dangerous Game written by Richard Connell. In the story the main character an extremely talented hunter, Rainsford, is on a yacht on his way to the Amazon for a dangerous hunt. Soon after the sailors spotted an island called Ship Trap Island Rainsford falls into the ocean and must swim to the island. While he was on the island he meets a man named General Zaroff, an experienced hunter. The theme of The Most Dangerous Game is morals and wrongful actions are in the eye of the beholder animals feel fear while being hunted, what is normal to you can be completely different from someone else’s idea of it, and joy doesn’t have identical meaning for everyone.
Animals feel pain and fear while being hunted and injured. Whitney debated “even so, I rather think they [jaguars] understand one thing-fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death” (Connell 199). Whitney has an unpopular belief that jaguars, or any animals, feel pain. Whitney begins to question if hunting is as normal as it should be. He fathoms the thought that possibly animals feel terror much like the terror

humans would feel if they were killed exact same way. Humans tend to forgot that animals are living things and have feelings much like humans. Meanwhile, Whitney is thinking all of these thoughts Rainsford completely disagrees and mentions they are just animals.
Not everyone agrees on everything on critical things for example murder.

Rainsford stressed “Hunting? General Zaroff what you’re speaking of is murder” (Connell 206). General Zaroff believes that hunting humans is a challenge and difficult, but is not differently thought of morally than hunting. Rainsford completely disagrees, hunting is okay to him, but hunting humans is murder and terrible. Disagreements are common between others and most of the time it comes from a difference in morals and values. Zaroff and Rainsford have opposite views on what is right and wrong, so this shows morals are in the eye of the

beholder.
Rainsford finds great joy and thrill for hunted identical to the feeling General Zaroff finds when he is hunting a human. Rainsford comes to the realization “ the general was playing with him! The general was saving him for another's day sport” (Connell 211). The general finds hunting Rainsford challenging, and he doesn’t want it to end to quickly so he can feel the thrill another day. Whitney predicts “ we should have some good hunting up in the amazon. Great sport, hunt” Rainsford agrees “ the best sport in the world”(Connell 199). Rainsford sees hunting these extremelly exotic and dangeorus animals as a sport much like we see baseball and football etc. Both the general and Rainsford have the same feelings while hunting, so what makes the generals sport wrong?
The fear animals feel while being hunted, what is normal to you can be completely different than someone else’s idea of it, and joy doesn’t have an identical meaning for everyone supports the theme morals and wrongful actions are in the eye of the beholder. Throughout the story it becomes apparent that Rainsford and General Zaroff aren’t as different as you might like to think. Humans and animals aren’t all that different, so it comes down to the fact that we have the rule killing humans is bad and killing animals is okay. Some have the beliefs of Rainsford other may have the feelings of rainsford, but there is always others who believe neither killing animals or humans is morally okay.
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