Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

The Most Dangerous Game

(1924)

Richard Connell

(October 17, 1893 – November 22, 1949)

Notes

First published in Collier's weekly magazine on January 19, 1924 and later collected in the short story collection Variety in 1925.

game:

• game (Merriam-Webster)
  1 a (1):  activity engaged in for diversion or amusement: play  (2): the equipment for a game  b: often derisive or mocking jesting: fun, sport <make game of a nervous player>
  2 a: a procedure or strategy for gaining an end: tactic  b: an illegal or shady scheme or maneuver: racket
  3 a (1): a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other  (2): a division of a larger contest  (3): the number of points necessary to win  (4): points scored in certain card games (as in all fours) by a player whose cards count up the highest  (5): the manner of playing in a contest  (6): the set of rules governing a game  (7): a particular aspect or phase of play in a game or sport <a football team's kicking game>  b plural: organized athletics  c (1): a field of gainful activity: line <the newspaper game>  (2): any activity undertaken or regarded as a contest involving rivalry, strategy, or struggle <the dating game> <the game of politics>; also: the course or period of such an activity <got into aviation early in the game>  (3): area of expertise: specialty 3 <comedy is not my game>
  4 a (1): animals under pursuit or taken in hunting; especially: wild animals hunted for sport or food  (2): the flesh of game animals  b archaic:  pluck  c: a target or object especially of ridicule or attack —often used in the phrase fair game
  

in medias res

• in medias res (Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms)
  In medias res is Latin for "into the middle of things." It usually describes a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle—usually at some crucial point in the action. The term comes from the ancient Roman poet Horace, who advised the aspiring epic poet to go straight to the heart of the story instead of beginning at the beginning.
• in medias res (Terms Used by Narratology and Film Theory)
  Technical term for the epic convention of beginning "in the middle of things," rather than at the very start of the story. In the Odyssey, for example, we first learn about Odysseus' journey when he is held captive on Calypso's island, even though, as we find out in Books IX through XII, the greater part of Odysseus' journey actually precedes that moment in the narrative. Of course, films and written tales often begin in the thick of things and fill in the background later; in other words, narrative regularly reworks discursively the simple chronology of its story.
• in medias res (Oxford Dictionaries)
  1 Into the middle of a narrative; without preamble:
  having begun his story in medias res
  The film is great at conveying an aura of homoerotic decadence, but it loses quite a bit by beginning the story in medias res.
  We enter the story in medias res, joining on-set a company that has been laboring on that film for a year.
  1.1 Into the midst of things.

old charts: nautical charts or sea maps made or used by sailors or sea navigators who had traveled before them

• chart (Merriam-Webster)
  1: map: as  a: an outline map exhibiting something (as climatic or magnetic variations) in its geographical aspects  b: a map for the use of navigators
  2 a: a sheet giving information in tabular form  b: graph  c: diagram  d: a sheet of paper ruled and graduated for use in a recording instrument  e: a record of medical information about a patient  f: a listing by rank (as of sales) —usually used in plural <number one on the charts —Timothy Cahill>
  3: a musical arrangement; also: a part in such an arrangement

Cannibals:

• cannibal (Merriam-Webster): one that eats the flesh of its own kind
• cannibal (Online Etymology Dictionary)
  "human that eats human flesh," 1550s, from Spanish canibal, caribal "a savage, cannibal," from Caniba, Christopher Columbus' rendition of the Caribs' name for themselves (see Caribbean). The natives were believed to be anthropophagites. Columbus, seeking evidence that he was in Asia, thought the name meant the natives were subjects of the Great Khan. Shakespeare's Caliban (in "The Tempest") is from a version of this word, with -n- and -l- interchanged, found in Hakluyt's "Voyages" (1599). The Spanish word had reached French by 1515. Used of animals from 1796. An Old English word for "cannibal" was selfæta.

capital: note possible meanings for General Zaroff's pronouncement: "We will have some capital hunting, you and I"

• capital (adj.) (Merriam-Webster)
  1 of a letter: of or conforming to the series A, B, C, etc. rather than a, b, c, etc.
  2 a: punishable by death <a capital crime> b: involving execution <capital punishment> c: most serious <a capital error>
  3 a: chief in importance or influence <capital ships> <the capital importance of criticism in the work of creation itself — T. S. Eliot> b: being the seat of government
  4: of or relating to capital (see 3capital); especially: relating to or being assets that add to the long-term net worth of a corporation <capital improvements>
  5: excellent <a capital book>
• capital (adj.) (Online Etymology Dictionary)
  early 13c., from L. capitalis "of the head," hence "capital, chief, first," from caput (gen. capitis) "head." A capital crime (1520s) is one that affects the life or "head;" capital had a sense of "deadly, mortal" from late 14c. in English, a sense also found in Latin. The connection between "head" and "life, mortality" also existed in O.E.: e.g. heafodgilt "deadly sin, capital offense," heafdes þolian "to forfeit life." Capital punishment was in Blackstone (1765). Capital gain is recorded from 1921. Capital goods is recorded from 1899. Of ships, "first-rate, of the line," attested from 1650s.
  

22  nerve:

• nerve (Merriam-Webster)
  3 a: power of endurance or control: fortitude, strength  b: assurance, boldness; also: presumptuous audacity: gall
• nerve (American Heritage)
  4. a. Courage and control under pressure: lost his nerve at the last minute.  b. Fortitude; stamina.  c. Forceful quality; boldness.  d. Brazen boldness; effrontery: had the nerve to deny it.

knouter:

• knout (Oxford Dictionaries)
  noun
  (In imperial Russia) a whip used to inflict punishment, often causing death.
  
  verb [WITH OBJECT]
  Flog (someone) with a knout.
• knout (Merriam-Webster)

Review Sheet

Characters

Whitney – "a big-game hunter"

Sanger Rainsford – can "pick off a moose moving in the brown fall bush at four hundred yards"; "celebrated hunter" and author;

Setting

Time 

night – "the dank tropical night"

Places

the Caribbean –

    Caribbean Sea – "the sea was as flat as a plate-glass window"; "the blood-warm waters of the Caribbean Sea closed over his head"

        yacht –

        Ship-Trap Island – "'a large island'"; "'The old charts call it 'Ship-Trap Island'" [...] Sailors have a curious dread of the place"

            General Zaroff's château – "enormous building—a lofty structure with pointed towers plunging upward [...] a palatial château; it was set on a high bluff"

                dining room – "suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast refectory table where twoscore men could sit down to eat. About the hall were the mounted heads of many animals—lions, tigers, elephants, moose, bears; larger or more perfect specimens Rainsford had never seen" 

Vocabulary

irony

contrast

setting

diction; denotation, connotation

imagery

metaphor

Character, Characterization

major characters
minor characters
stock or type characters
stereotypes
double
confidant(e)
villain
hero
anti-hero
foil
self-revelation
personality
direct presentation of character
indirect presentation of character
show v. tell
consistency in character behavior
motivation
plausibility of character: is the character credible? convincing?
flat character
round character, multidimensional character
static character, unchanged
developing character, dynamic character, active character
direct methods of revealing character:

• characterization through the use of names
• characterization through physical appearance
• characterization through editorial comments by the author, interrupts narrative to provide information
• characterization through dialog: what is said, who says it, under what circumstances, who is listening, how the conversation flows, how the speaker speaks (ex. tone, stress, dialect, diction/word choice)
• characterization through action

indirect characterization

Plot

Freytag's Pyramid
beginning, middle, end
scene
chance, coincidence

plot, main plot, minor plot, subplot, underplot, double plot,

story
conflict, internal conflict, external conflict, clash of actions, clash of ideas, clash of desires, clash of wills, major, minor, emotional, physical

• man v. self
• man v. man
• man v. society
• man v. nature
• man v. the supernatural
• man v. machine/technology

cf. also conflict in fairy tales:

• good v. evil
• rich v. poor
• young v. old
• beauty v. ugliness
• weak v. strong
• innocent v. wise

protagonist

antagonist (antagonistic)
suspense (suspenseful)
mystery (mysterious, mysteriously, mysteriousness)
dilemma
surprise (surprising, surprised)
plot twist
ending

• happy ending
• unhappy ending
• indeterminate ending (ambiguous)
• surprise ending (unexpected)

artistic unity (unified)
time sequence
exposition
in medias res
complication (complicate)
rising action
falling action
crisis
climax
anti-climax (anti-climactic)
conclusion (conclude, conclusive)
resolution (resolve, resolving)
denouement
flashback, retrospect
back-story
foreshadowing
causality
plot structure
initiating incident
epiphany
reversal
catastrophe
deus ex machina
disclosure, discovery
movement, shape of movement
trajectory
change
focus

Point of View 
third-person point of view
intrusive narrator
unintrusive/impersonal/objective narrator
limited  point of view
omniscient point of view
editorial omniscience
neutral omniscience
selective omniscience
limited omniscient

second-person point of view

first-person point of view
self-conscious narrator
fallible, unreliable narrator
first person observer
first person participant
innocent eye

Sample Student Responses to Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game"

Study Question: Descriptions that suggest civilization and savagery abound in the story. What characters, actions, objects or qualities are associated with each? What do you notice about the way Connell uses civilized and savage depictions in the story?

Response 1:

Reference

Reference

Connell, Richard. "The Most Dangerous Game." Internet Archive. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.

Connell, Richard. “The Most Dangerous Game.” Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. 6^th ed. Eds. Laurence Perrine and Thomas A. Arp. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. 8–23. Print.

Further Reading or Reference

Connell, Richard. Apes and Angels. Minton, Balch and Company, 1924.

Connell, Richard. Fair Enough. 1926.

Connell, Richard. Ironies. Minton, Balch and Company, 1930.

Connell, Richard. Murder at Sea. Minton, Balch and Company, 1929.

Connell, Richard. The Sin of Monsieur Pettipon, and Other Humorous Tales. George H. Doran, 1922.

Connell, Richard. Variety. Minton, Balch and Company, 1924.

Connell, Richard. What Ho! G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1937.

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Last updated August 23, 2019