The Most Dangerous Game

1. The Most Dangerous Game By: Alexa Palmer, Shani Edwards, Brandon Jones, and HaneefaYusuff

2. Main Characters Sanger Rainsford – A big man and strong from hunting. Not afraid of much until he learns he has to take part in General Zaroff’s hunting games. He seems to be very sure of himself in the beginning, progressively becomes scared and vulnerable, but then shows his strength at the end after killing Zaroff. You can tell that when he is put into the jungle he becomes very unsure if he will make it out alive. He has to keep telling himself to keep his nerve because if he doesn’t, then the General will find and kill him very easily. He shows that he is very clever when he sets up traps to kill the General and escape. General Zaroff – In the beginning, he comes across as very welcoming to Rainsford and a great host. Rainsford even describes him as disarming. But while talking to the General he gets a suspicious feeling about him. The General is older, with graying hair and a beard. He is strong for his age from hunting everyday. We learn that he is mad because he hunts humans. He has no compassion and says he chooses the people no body will miss.

3. Conflict This story has all the different types of conflict. Man vs. Man – Rainsford has to escape the General for three days to live. If the General finds him, he will shoot him dead. If he can stay hidden, he will be let go alive. Man vs. Nature – Rainsford has to find a way to use the jungle to his advantage. Since he has to survive there for three days, he sets up traps to either mislead to capture the General. Man vs. Self – Rainsford has to find a way to keep calm and collected even though he is being hunted by a murderer. He knows that if he were to lose it then the General would find him and kill him. Rainsford has to battle with the need to give up and the need to survive within himself.

4. Three Quotes The theme of this story is inhumanity because the General doesn’t show any compassion towards the people he kills and Rainsford does an inhumane act at the end of the book when he said he doesn’t believe in cold blooded murder. On page 40, Rainsford says to Whitney, “Nonsense. This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees.” Rainsford becomes like the animals he hunts, mere game, and no doubt begins to appreciate what Whitney had told him aboard the ship about the inhumanity of hunting frightened animals. On page 57, the General says to Rainsford, “Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford… He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided.

5. Setting There are multiple setting in the story. When the story starts off, Rainsford is on a yacht with his hunting crew. Then while he is smoking his pipe, he falls off into the water and washes up on a private island in the Caribbean's. He searches the island until he find a creepy castle that has lights on inside. He decided to go knock on the door and was invited in my General Zaroff. His bedroom was big and luxurious. They had good meals and he was treated well. Then he is sent into the jungle to play the General’s game. He has to push through trees and vines to get farther into the jungle. He jumps into the ocean to escape the General. At the end, he ends back up at the castle, killing the General, and sleeping in his bed. Yacht Ocean Island General’s Castle Jungle Ocean Back to General’s Castle Sleeps in General’s Bed

6. Point Of View The point of view in the story is third person limited. In some points of the story you are able to see Rainsford’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. You can see and hear what the General is saying, but you cannot go into his mind and read what he is thinking.

7. Mood The mood of the story is ominous and suspenseful because of the setting and plot. Throughout the story the gripping suspense creates a mood that engages the reader and never falters. After falling off the yacht, Rainsford thinks he is safe after finding the mansion, but he is met by a threatening doorman and a strangely happy host. After learning about the “game”, he is sent off into the jungle to save himself. He must outsmart the General to stay alive. If the General finds him within three days, he will kill him. Rainsford jumps off a cliff to escape the General and appears later in his bedroom. They both agree to fight to the death and Rainsford ends up sleeping peacefully in the General’s bed.

8. Figurative Language On page 41, “Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing- with wavelengths just as sound and light have.” - personification On page 40, “The sea was as flat as a plate glass window.” – simile On page 45, “’He is a Cossack,’ said the general, and his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth.” – foreshadowing On page 54, “The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror.”- suspense

10. Pictures The picture of Ivan the Terrible symbolizes Ivan from the castle because Ivan is supposed to be big and terrifying. Also, they both have an intimidating appearance to those around them. The next picture of the island represents where Rainsford had washed up after falling of the yacht. This island is also the hunting grounds for General Zaroff’s game. The picture of the pipe goes back to when Rainsford fell off the boat. While he was trying to look out at sea, a rope had knocked the pipe Rainsford had out of his mouth. In an attempt to catch it, he leaned over the boat too far and fell overboard.

11. Pictures Continued The picture of the castle represents the home General Zaroff lives on his island. Rainsford describes it as large with some lights on. When he goes to knock on the door, the handle creeks and is very loud. When you think of a creepy mansion, a scary doorman would fit in that picture. Ivan answers the door as a very intimidating man. The picture of the jungle is what Rainsford had to fight his way through and live in in order to survive. It was filled with vines, large trees, and bushes with no clear path. He set traps and found places to go in the jungle in order to escape the General. The last picture is of the quicksand General Zaroff warns him of. He called it “Death Swamp.” It was on the southeast corner of the island and if you fell into it or tried to run through it, you would be sucked in and die almost immediately.

12. REFLECTION Our reflection of the story was that it was very suspenseful and unpredictable. In the beginning of the book, the conversation between Rainsford and Whitney proved that this would be a horrific tale. Once he falls off and lands on the island, you know there will be an issue and that he was in great danger. We never predicted that the General would be hunting humans for fun. We believed that the General was deranged and that hunting humans was unimaginable. During the book, we could feel the suspense the author was trying to create and, didn’t want to, but NEEDED to know the end of the story. When the end of the story finally came around and Rainsford killed the General, our first thought was good riddance. Our second thought was now Rainsford is a murderer after he specifically told the General that what he was doing was cold-blooded murder. It is all opinion on if Rainsford did the right thing. On one hand, the General was killing innocent humans and Rainsford just saved them, but on the other hand, Rainsford just killed a human being. My group had mixed feelings about Rainsford killing the General. It’s all opinion.