Rainsford's Use Of Suspense In 'The Most Dangerous Game'

When readers experience a feeling of helplessness, suspense is created. At the beginning of the story Rainsford falls off the yacht and is left in the sea. When readers realize “the blood-warm waters of the Caribbean sea was closed over his head” (15), they recognize this as a hopeless situation. Readers hope the boat will turn around and save Rainsford but know it is gone. Hoping he will not drown, readers can feel Rainsford’s desperation. Likewise, later in the story Rainsford climbs a tree to hide from Zaroff. The general approaches the tree as his “eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree” (21). This gives readers an uneasy feeling. Fearfully, they hope Zaroff won’t find Rainsford. This sentence seems to be in slow …show more content…
On the boat, Rainsford and Whitney have a conversation about hunters and huntees. Whitney states that “‘the world is made up of two classes-the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are the hunters’” (15). Being an extremely unusual statement, this makes readers ponder what it foreshadows. Intelligently, this hints that the story might revolve about actually being hunted. Alluding to the fact that someone will be the “huntee”, this gives all the readers a nervous feeling that produces suspense and tension. Similarly, some time later Rainsford and Zaroff are conversing over dinner. Talking about needing a new animal, Zaroff starts hinting at how the animal might not be an animal at all. He explains that “‘I have a quarry with which I can match my wits’” (18) and how it “‘must be able to reason’” (19). Long before Rainsford figures out, the readers realize Zaroff must hunt humans. While reading, many readers hold their breath because they are worried Zaroff will hunt Rainsford. Recognizing that Zaroff is wicked, readers fear for Rainsford’s life. Using foreshadowing, Connel cleverly creates