1. A Story of Suspense and Action!!!

2. PRE-READING

3. Background Richard Connell First published in 1924
Connell's story raises questions about the nature of violence and cruelty and the ethics of hunting for sport.
Background
Author:
Publication
Focus

4. Hunter Sanger Rainsford becomes stranded on an island
Overview
The Most Dangerous Game
Hunter Sanger Rainsford becomes stranded on an island
He finds another hunter, named General Zaroff, living on the island in a dark, secluded mansion
Zaroff is an excellent hunter as well, and is desperately looking for new challenges to test his hunting skills.
The Cape Buffalo is One of the World’s Most Dangerous Animals

5. Literary Focus Violence and Cruelty Themes and Conflicts
Ethics of Hunting
The Weak versus the Strong
Survival of the Fittest
The Hunter Becoming the Hunted
Revenge
Gaming Room. Will Zaroff’s Look the Same Way?

6. Literary Focus Setting: Point of View:
Connell sets the "game'' in a dangerous wilderness of quicksand, wild seas, fallen trees, mud and sand, and rocky cliffs.
Omniscient third-person narrator.

7. Literary Focus
Suspense
Foreshadowing
The story’s fast-paced action, life or death plot, and jungle setting all contribute to a sense of anxiety about what will happen next in the short story
There are numerous clues about the “new game” that Zaroff hunts, but perhaps no clue is stronger than his repeated claim that 1 animal can reason

8. Characters
Rainsford
Rainsford: world famous hunter who doesn’t believe animals have feelings and becomes stranded on Ship-Trap Island.
Rainsford

9. General Zaroff: refined manners, clothing, tastes, and delicate speech contrast with his brutal passion for hunting.
Characters
General Zaroff
General Zaroff

10. REFLECTION &
ANALYSIS

11. Questions to Answer About CHARACTER
Who is the main character?
Who is/are the subordinate characters?
How does the main character interact with the subordinate characters?
How do the interactions between the characters affect the plot? 11

12. Questions to Answer about NARRATION AND DIALOGUE
What does Rainsford say about himself?
What does Zaroff say about himself?
What does Rainsford say about Zaroff?
What does Zaroff say about Rainsford?
What do you think about Rainsford?
What do you think about Zaroff? 12

13. What are the internal conflicts that the characters have?
In literature and drama, a struggle which takes place in the protagonist's mind and through which the character reaches a new understanding or dynamic change
What are the internal conflicts that the characters have? 13

14. What are the external conflicts that the characters have?
In literature, a struggle between the protagonist and another character against nature or some outside force
What are the external conflicts
that the characters have? 14

15. Example: The jungle was green
Literal Meaning
LITERAL MEANING
In accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of the word or words; not figurative or metaphorical: the literal meaning of a word.
Example: The jungle was green
and muggy. 15

16. Example: His hands were as rough
Figurative Meaning
FIGURATIVE MEANING
Of the nature of or involving a figure of speech, esp. a metaphor; metaphorical; not literal: a figurative expression.
Example: His hands were as rough
as sandpaper. 16