The Cage Man Analysis

Editor, Harvard graduate, editor again, reporter, war fighter, writer. It does not seem coincidental that after being stationed in France during World War I, that Richard Connell began writing short stories, of men fighting each other and intimidating each other, as shown in “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Cage Man”. One of Connell’s most famous short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game,” is about an intelligent man, Rainsford, who meets former General Zaroff. General Zaroff then proceeds to make Rainsford participate in a “game” in which Zaroff is the hunter and Rainsford is the hunted for three days or until Rainsford is killed. “The Cage Man” is written around a man named Horace Nimms, who originally handles the money as a cashier for the …show more content…
Firstly, the two short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Cage Man”, both by Richard Connell, use a similar setting. In both texts, the story take place in semi isolated settings, perhaps because war setting are often isolated. For example, “The Most dangerous Game” takes place on an island that sailors typically avoid, Ship Wrecked Island. Because the island is often avoided, and not many people live on it, it is very isolated. Because of this isolation, the main character, Rainsford, then realizes many of his strengths and has to think much harder and push himself much further. For example, when Rainsford is being hunted on the remote island with no one to help him, he has to push himself to keep his nerve in order to survive. He first shows this push on page twenty eight when he tells himself, ““I will not lose my nerve. I will not.”” Finally, after pushing himself, he survives the hunt and won the game of the hunt. The reason the setting is so important to this aspect of the story is because if the setting had been in a place like New York City, he would have been able to easily get help from other people and it would have been much easier to hide. This is very similar to “The Cage Man” because the main character, Horace Nimms, is a type …show more content…
In “the Most Dangerous Game”, the conflict is between General Zaroff, the hunter, and Rainsford the hunted. They are both humans and Zaroff gives Rainsford no choice but to play in his hunting game. When Zaroff tells Rainsford that Rainsford is the next potential victim which then Rainsford refuses to participate, Zaroff says ““The choice rests entirely with you. But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport more diverting than Ivan’s?”” on age twenty five. He then suggests that Ivan will not give Rainsford the option to survive if he doesn’t not play Zaroff’s game. Similarly, Horace Nimms is not given the option on whether he keeps his original job or gets a new job he does not want. On page seven, the man changing Horace’s job says, ““He was in the wrong cage. I am going to transfer him from a mathematical cage to a mechanical cage. I am going transfer [Horace] to be an elevator operator.”” Horace knows that if he refuses his new job he will then have no job, so he must obey his orders, just as Rainsford had no choice but to play Zaroff’s game. The conflict of each short story shows how the author uses external conflicts that involve the characters having no choice in their matters, in order to create a definite conflict. Furthermore, the conflict becomes man vs man throughout each text. In “The Most dangerous Game” the conflict is Rainsford versus Zaroff. Who