Fantasy can be defined as a kind of fiction that pictures creatures or events beyond the boundaries of known reality. This genre is characterized by multiple elements such as theme, setting, plot, and tone. The short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell can be categorized as a work of fantasy because it contains the fantastical elements of an imaginary setting, an improbable and surprising plot, and a theme centered around good vs. evil
A recurrent element of fantasy is an imaginary setting such as Wonderland and Narnia. In “The Most Dangerous Game” a majority of the story takes place on an island called Ship Trap Island. It is located in the Caribbean, but the exact coordinates are unknown. This island is shrouded in mystery
…show more content…
and superstition. The minor character Whitney believes that even cannibals wouldn’t live in “such a God-forsaken place” and the sailors on the ship were jumpy at the thought of it. This reputation sets up the horror and suspenseful feeling of the story and successfully transports readers out of the real world and into a new one. An imaginary setting is common because it allows authors to include improbable and impossible happenings and creatures that tie into the plot. Fantastical stories typically have plots that are improbable or even impossible. It is common for an author to use magic or talking animals in order to accomplish this; however, this is not always the case. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Connell succeeds in creating an improbable plot without the use of magic. The plot of this short story is that of an unsympathetic hunter named Rainsford being stranded on an island with General Zaroff who enjoys hunting humans. Although it is possible for a man to be stranded on an island where he will later be hunted by a psychopath, it is highly unlikely that the man himself would be a hunter who before being stranded was talking of how he does not understand nor care how his prey feels. Not only is the plot improbable due to the combination of characters, it is also filled with surprising twists. The main surprise being what General Zaroff hunts with other surprises occurring during the hunt itself, such as Rainsford killing Ivan. This improbable and surprising plot makes the story both enjoyable to readers and revealing to human behavior in life-and-death situations. A common theme in fantasy is good vs.
evil with one character acting as a morally correct hero and the other character being the villain. This hero will typically face trials but overcome them and triumph over evil. In Connell’s short story, Rainsford is the hero who believes that killing is wrong and General Zaroff is the villain who believes that it is okay to kill humans for his own enjoyment. Rainsford’s trial begins when he is stranded on an island where he must survive three days in unknown terrain while being hunted by Zaroff. During these three days, Rainsford struggles to stay safe and has to make difficult decisions that go against what he thinks is right. Despite these struggles, Rainsford is able to survive the island and put an end to General Zaroff, which ultimately puts an end to the murders that occur there. This gives the story a determinate happy ending where good defeats evil.
The short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell contains elements of fantasy that helps it to be categorized. These elements include an imaginary setting, an improbable and surprising plot, and a good vs. evil theme. These elements help the author create a story that removes readers from the stress of everyday
life.
Three stories, “The Most Dangerous Game”, “The Sniper”, and “Just Lather, That’s All”, each with their own plots and conflict, yet they are all quite the same. Examples of conflict are, man vs man, man vs self, and man vs nature. Comparing the stories and writing down detailed descriptive notes shows the similarities between all three interesting stories. To compare the stories may take some time but with careful analyzing and good descriptions, the comparing may not be as hard.
“I hunt more dangerous game….” Similarities and differences can appear anywhere, especially in the short story and the movie called The Most Dangerous Game. They have similar, yet different expositions, characters, and plots with conflicts. Many people say that books or short stories are better than movies because of the similarities and differences that are found. Books or short stories are usually more descriptive, informative, and do not stray too far from the central idea or main theme, while movies only fall into one or two of these categories. Movies hardly ever fall into all three categories, however if they do the movies become better. This is not the case with The Most Dangerous Game. One place where movies and short stories have major similarities and differences is at the beginning of the story or the exposition.
In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game”, he uses several literary devices to keep the reader interested. During Rainsfords journey to and through the island of General Zaroff he partakes in an adventurous journey filled with mystery, suspense, and dilemma. These devices are used to keep the reader interested throughout the story.
The author of “The Most Dangerous Game” is Richard Connell. Richard Connell is an American author and journalist, who wrote a lot of short stories and few novels. His short stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly. While he was still in high school, Richard Connell was hired as the city editor for sixteen dollars a week. He studied college at Georgetown University, while working as a secretary for his father, who had been elected to Congress. After his father’s death, he moved to Harvard, and started writing for two college newspapers. After graduating, he transferred to New York, but he also left a brief stint in the army during World War |. After that, he moved to Los Angeles and began to write screenplays for major Hollywood movie studios. Richard Connell’s most famous story is “The Most Dangerous Game”, which is still widely read, even nowadays. It has inspired many movies and it’s probably the most frequently anthologized American story.
The setting in the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” has many similarities and differences to the setting in “The Interlopers”. Though the settings differ in many ways, for example the danger of them and their contents, they are also similar in their mystery and vitality to the plot. These two pieces of writing hold many of the same ideas, but they also are original works that portray them in their own way.
Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
The characters in the novel, including the operative himself are willing to lie, cheat, and kill in cold blood for their own personal gain. Although infidelity, greed, and self-preservation are expected from characters involved with the murders and inner crime ring; the story becomes more complicated when characters like the operative, and chief of police begin to get their hands dirty. Bringing the age-old crime ad punishment theme to a higher tier where the reader is unable to make an impulsive decision on who is a “bad guy”, and who is a “good
By making the reader hesitate (Todorov) about whether this is supernatural or real, this story could be placed into the Fantastic genre, but we can't put it into this genre because it also has an element of the Sublime in it.
“The Destructors” by Graham Greene and “The Most Dangerous” Game by Richard Connell reveal similarities in both conflict, and brilliant use of suspense in a ploy to keep the reader engaged. The two short stories both hold interesting titles and take place in realistic environments under unrealistic circumstances. Nonetheless both stories relay vague similarities that create a proactive willingness to further explore the stories beyond the first few seconds of reading.
The conflict of good and evil presents itself in “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Child by Tiger” in two completely different ways. One story being commercial fiction and the other being literary fiction, there are many ways of viewing variables such as good versus evil, realistic versus unrealistic stories and moral significance. The stories have different voices and are meant for different audiences, but in viewing the overall moral importance of both fictional works, the story with a greater moral significance is “The Child by Tiger”.
Being able to overcome anything in life is a great feeling. There is a special feeling in the body and the mind when the body achieves a goal, and the mind gets a feeling of satisfaction. Since, the mind chooses to go against the body's will to quit, you have to be mentally strong. In Richard Connell's short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” large game hunter Sanger Rainsford is tested in the following ways: strong versus the weak, the value of life, and becoming what he fears. To begin with, Rainsford has to pose as the weak against the strong, General Zaroff.
“One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard Rainsford.”
“The Most Dangerous Game” is an adventure story, written by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the protagonist of the book, is caught in an ironic situation throughout the story. Richard uses irony in this story to give it dramatic emphasis. Irony is when the reader expects one thing, but in reality, it is not what it seems to be. There are two main types of irony in this story, which causes the reader to pause and revaluate what he has read.
...d theme between The Knight’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale, it is evident that genre has an influence on the creation of meaning within the two stories; it also allows the reader to recognize The Miller’s Tale as a parody of the courtly and aristocratic values of The Knight’s Tale. By first recognizing that both stories are grounded in a similar basic plot, it is easier to compare the differences between them. Some major themes that exemplify the influence that genre has on meaning are divinity and predestination and love at first sight. By examining these themes and other aspects of the stories such as the combat and the endings, it is clear that style, theme, and genre are crucial in influencing the creation of meaning in a story. And this is how two stories can shift meaning from a tragic idealized courtly love among nobility, to a comic affair among middle class.
Connell, Richard Edward. The Most Dangerous Game. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 1990. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.