The Most Dangerous Game Literary Analysis

Every story has conflict, without conflict the story will be boring to read. For example, Cinderella will be dull without the evil stepmother and sisters. With the conflict, the story is much more interesting and can even keep you on the edge of your seat. The same goes for the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. The three main examples of conflict, in this story are, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Himself, and Man vs. Nature. Man vs. Nature is the entire reason Rainsford even gets onto the island. Without this conflict, there will be no plot and the story will be absolutely uneventful. It all starts when Rainsford looks over the ship into the Caribbean sea and falls overboard. Rainsford is trying to swim to land as he fights the rough waters of the sea. He finally reaches the shore and realizes “...that he was finally safe from his enemy, the sea…”(3). This conflict shows us how Rainsford fights the sea, in an effort to save himself. …show more content…
Little does he know everything has just begun. Rainsford introduces himself to a new character, General Zaroff. Rainsford slowly learns about Zaroff’s strange and inhuman hunting game. In no time Zaroff sends Rainsford onto the island to get away and survive the hunt. Rainsford is in a panic trying to get away from Zaroff alive. He knows that he must stay sharp so he tells himself “ I will not lose my nerve.”(12). Without the conflict of Man vs. Himself, the short story will lose its suspense. We will not know what is going on inside of Rainsford’s head in this extremely stressful