The Most Dangerous Game
Richard Connell
The Most Dangerous Game
Unit 12
W arming up
B ackground
T ext Analysis
R einforcement
The Most Dangerous Game
Unit 12
Questions / Activities
Check-on Preview
Objectives
Warming up
Warming up
Questions / Activities
1. Retelling
• How many rounds of game does Rainsford go through with
the general? Who wins in each round?
2. Mapping
• Draw a map of the island according to the text and mark out
the escape route taken by Rainsford.
3. Watching Movie (1932)
Discuss the following questions in groups:
• How does the cinematic adaptation differ from the original
story?
• Which one do you like better, the movie or the short story?
Why?
Warming up
Check-on Preview
Define the following words.
1. a wild chance (para. 34)
a bit of wild grapevine (para. 36)
2. the dead black eyes (para. 3)
the trees dead ahead (para. 38)
3. the baying of the hounds (para. 37)
a beast at bay (para. 44)
Warming up
Objectives
1. Understand the moral of the story.
2. Review the elements of a short story.
3. Study characterization.
4. Appreciate the style: verbs, step-up, imagery, irony and
personification.
The Most Dangerous Game
Unit 12
Author
Background
Setting
History
Background
Author
Richard Connell
His Life
(1893-1949)
• Age 10: covered baseball games for the
newspaper, Poughkeepsie News-Press at
the payment of 10 cents for each game.
• Age 16: became city editor of the paper.
• Age 22: graduated from Harvard.
• Age 26: married and turned a
professional writer.
Background
Author
His Works
“The Most Dangerous Game”
• (1924) Won the O’Henry Memorial Prize, the top short
story prize in America.
• Included as a classic into American primary school and
high school textbooks and the world’s best short fiction
anthologies.
• Adapted into a dozen of films—the latest one: Lethal
Woman (1998); the best-known one: The Most
Dangerous Game (1932).
His Achievements
Background
Author
• One of the most prolific short story writers of the
20th century.
• Successful screenwriter and novelist.
• Many of his stories are made into movies and TV
series.
Background
History
• Big game hunting in African and South American countries
was popular with wealthy Europeans and Americans. In
1909, Theodore Roosevelt and his son killed 512 animals
on an African safari.
• Right after WWI, “a war to end all wars,” the Bolshevik
revolution toppled the old hierarchy of classes.
• America’s interest in Central America and the Caribbean,
rivaling with Russia.
Text Analysis
Setting
Review: What is the setting of a story?
• the social milieu in which the events of a novel occur
• the main backdrop and mood for a story
Text Analysis
1. Where is the story set?
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•
•
a Caribbean island
a Gothic chateau
a jungle and a swamp
2. Is this setting symbolic?
In which way?
Setting
The Most Dangerous Game
Unit 12
Theme
Characters
Text Analysis
Plot
Structure
Detailed
Analysis
Text Analysis
Theme
Questions for thinking:
1. What moral lesson does the writer intend to tell by the story? Is
he successful in that?
2. Why do men hunt? How do you understand “Human society is
nothing but a hunting ground.”?
Human society is nothing but a hunting ground”?
• Do you agree? Why or why not?
• “Human society is nothing but a hunting ground”?
• Do you agree? Why or why not?
Text Analysis
Theme
Themes Related
1. Social Darwinism
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the survival of the fittest
self-reliance in the struggle for survival
competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism
social evolution
2. Classism, Racism, Elitism
“When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport;
when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.”
—George Bernard Shaw
Text Analysis
Characters
1. General Zaroff
• Why is the general so obsessed with
hunting?
• How do you understand his choice of
men as prey?
• Do his profession and social class
help to explain his belief and
behavior?
Text Analysis
Characters
2. Rainsford
• Do you think Rainsford is better
than the general?
ambivalence: similarity to Zaroff
vehicle of irony: hunter turned
“huntee”
• How is he different from
traditional heroes?
Text Analysis
Characters
Zaroff
Russian
aristocratic
military
maniac
demonic
Stereotype,
Cossack
Rainsford
professional
hunter
American
obsessed with
hunting
civilian
privileged class,
classist
democratic
still “normal” human
Text Analysis
Plot
1. How many parts can we divide the story into?
2. In which part is the climax reached?
3. How is tension built up?
•
•
suspense (study para.19)
sentence length and type (compare paras. 18, 34-36, 38 )
4. The conclusion/resolution consists of only one sentence.
Why?
Text Analysis
Plot
Plot Diagram of
“The Most Dangerous Game”
Climax—point where
the protagonist changes
Rising Action—three
statements that
summarize the story
Falling Action—one
statement about what
leads to the end of the
conflict
Conflict— struggle
between opposing
forces
Exposition—introduction of
the characters, background
and setting
Resolution—the end of
the conflict
Text Analysis
Plot
Plot Diagram of
“The Most Dangerous Game”
Rainsford hides in
Zaroff’s bedroom.
3. Rainsford jumps over the
cliff to escape from Zaroff.
2. Rainsford is hunted by
Zaroff (several rounds).
1. Rainsford swims to ShipTrap Island after falling off
the yacht.
Setting: Ship-Trap Island
Protagonist: Rainsford
Antagonist: Zaroff
Rainsford and Zaroff fight.
Conflicts
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Self
Rainsford kills Zaroff.
Text Analysis
Structure
Part I (paras. 1-14)
Rainsford compelled to play the game with Zaroff
Part II (paras. 15-45)
Playing the game for three days
Part III (para. 46)
The final round
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Discussion
1. In what way does the general speak? What is told by the
discrepancy between what he says and what he does?
2. How did Zaroff make Rainsford accept his idea of a game?
3. What kind of man is Zaroff, judged from his speech and
actions? (para. 13)
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Words & Expressions (1)
venture (para. 6)
• venture sth
If I may venture an opinion, I’d say the plan needs closer
examination.
• venture to do sth
May I venture to suggest a few improvements?
• venture + prep.
Nobody ventured out of doors during the period of SARS.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Words & Expressions (2)
rest (para. 6)
• rest with
The final decision rests with the President.
It rests with the jury to decide the prisoner’s fate.
It rests with you to settle your differences as best as you can.
• rest on
Success in management ultimately rests on sound judgment.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Words & Expressions (3)
stake (para. 11)
• at stake
The tension was naturally high for a game with so much at
stake.
At stake is the success or failure of world trade talks.
• stake sth (usu. money or reputation) on sth
He has staked his political future on the outcome of an election.
• have a stake in sth
The parties who hammered out the agreement now have a stake
in making it work because they helped to create it.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Discussion
1. What animals are the two characters compared to separately?
(paras. 18, 20, 24, 27)
2. How does Rainsford’s awareness of his situation change step
by step?
3. Why does the general identify loudly Rainsford’s trick every
time? What does this detail tell us of his character?
4. Are there any details that hint at the general’s coldbloodedness?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Words & Expressions (1)
plunge (para. 16)
• (an amount or rate) to decrease quickly and suddenly
The bank’s profits plunged by 87% this year.
• to fall, rush or throw oneself in a direction
At least 50 people died when a bus plunged into a river.
• plunge a dagger into the enemy; plunge her face into cold water
• plunge into (a particular state or situation or an activity)
The economy is plunging into recession.
Take the opportunity to plunge yourself into your career.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Words & Expressions (2)
spur (para. 16)
• to make an improvement or change happen faster
The administration may put more emphasis on spurring
economic growth.
The trade pacts will spur an exodus of US business to Mexico.
• spur sb (on): to encourage sb to do sth
Their attitude, rather than discouraging Philip, only seemed to
spur him on.
It’s money that spurs these fisherman (on) to risk a long ocean
journey in their flimsy boats.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Exercise
Fill in the blanks with the following verb phrases: plunge
along, strike off, stretch out, throw down and spur on.
Spurred
on
________
been plunging along
by a sharp sense of shame, he had _______________,
giving no heed to the passers-by who looked at him strangely.
To get away from the hideous scene as far as possible, he
struck off from the main street and blundered into one of
_________
threw himself down
those dark alleys, at the end of which he __________________
stretched out in a rest.
behind a trash can and finally ___________
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part III: Discussion
1. Who won the game in the end? Why doesn’t the writer tell us
directly?
2. What might have happened to the general?
3. What moral lesson does the general’s end tell?
4. What will happen if the story is continued?
The Most Dangerous Game
Language
Unit 12
Discussion
Reinforcement
Writing
Readings
Reinforcement
Discussion
1. Why is the story titled “The Most Dangerous Game”?
2. What do you think of hunting, or, war in general, after
learning the story?
3. Have you read any other stories of the same vein? Share them
with your group members and discuss where their charm lies.
Reinforcement
Further Readings
• Moby-Dick (1851), by Herman
Melville. A classic adventure novel
of a sea captain who hunts his
nemesis, the great white whale,
Moby Dick.
• Heart of Darkness (1902), by
Joseph Conrad. A novel about a
man, Marlow, who enters the
Belgian Congo in order to find Mr.
Kurtz, a Western man who has
succumbed to the dark forces of the
jungle, built a fortress, and
generated fear among the natives
for his violent, messianic ways.
Reinforcement
Writing Exercise
1. Successful suspense and a surprise ending contribute
greatly to the power of this story. Notice how they are
created in the story and make one of your own.
2. Are you interested in what will happen after the general is
killed? Write another ending for the story if you can.
Reinforcement
Language
Useful Words & Expressions
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find one’s way through/to…
snap shut
plunge along
get a grip on oneself
take stock of sth
strike off from
after a fashion
fix one’s eyes on…
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be intent on sth/doing sth
protrude
but for
ring
dress
carry sb on
dig oneself in
give way