Activator: Recall!
“TMDG” Plot Diagram
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Rainsford jumps off of the cliff.
Rainsford sets up the Uganda knife trick;
he kills Ivan.
Rainsford sets up a Burmese tiger pit; one
of General Zaroff’s dogs dies.
Rainsford sets up a Malay mancatcher;
General Zaroff’s shoulder is injured.
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Rainsford creates a complicated trail, but
General Zaroff can follow it—even in the
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dark.
General Zaroff is going to hunt Rainsford.
Rainsford learns that General Zaroff hunts
humans.
Rainsford meets General Zaroff.
Rainsford arrives on Ship-Trap Island.
Rainsford falls overboard.
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Setting: Ship-Trap Island
(evil and dreaded place)
Protagonist: Rainsford
(hunter)
General Zaroff has dinner; he relaxes and
reads a book.
Rainsford reveals himself in General
Zaroff’s bedroom, ready to finish off the
hunt.
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Rainsford wins
the game.
“The Most Dangerous Game”
Conflict
Conflict: struggle
between
opposing forces
 Man vs. Man

 The struggle of
the story is
between two men:
Rainsford and
Zaroff.
Direct Characterization—Captain
Nielsen

Direct characterization: an author overtly
reveals a character’s personality by
directly telling you about him or her

Captain Nielsen is directly characterized as
strong guy with the following:
 Whitney calls him a “tough-minded old Swede.”

Captain Nielsen is also directly
characterized as superstitious with the
following:
 Rainsford calls him a “superstitious sailor.”
Indirect Characterization—Zaroff

Indirect characterization: textual clues
show a character’s motivation and intent

Connell indirectly characterizes Zaroff
as evil or animalistic with the following
details:
 He has thick black eyebrows and a pointed
black moustache.
 He has dead, black eyes.
 He has a curious, red-lipped smile.
Narrator and Point of View


The narrator (storyteller)
is an outsider, not a
character in the story.
“The Most Dangerous
Game” is told from a
third person omniscient
point of view.
 Even though much of
the story is focused on
Rainsford, the narrator
does reveal Zaroff’s
thoughts as well.
Mood


Mood: the atmosphere of
a literary work intended to
evoke a certain emotion
or feeling from the reader
The mood of “The Most
Dangerous Game” is
suspenseful.
 The name of the island is
Ship-Trap Island, a place
that sailors dread.
 Multiple references to
darkness.
 The chase moves fast.
Tone
Tone: the attitude a writer takes toward
the reader, a subject, or character.
 Connell’s tone is straightforward and
non-judgmental.

 He doesn’t show preference toward
Rainsford or Zaroff.
 He doesn’t judge Zaroff or Rainsford.
 He doesn’t offer comments or opinions on
the story’s events.
Irony
 Verbal
Irony: saying
one thing but
meaning another.
 Example: “We do our best to preserve civilization
here.”
○ Ironic because they are killing people for sport,
which isn’t civilized.
 Example: "We'll visit my training school," smiled the
general. "It's in the cellar. I have about a dozen
pupils down there now.”
○ Ironic because it isn’t a school with pupils, it’s a
prison with prisoners.
Hyperbole

Hyperbole: an extreme exaggeration.
 Example: Whitney suggests that “even
cannibals wouldn’t live in such a Godforsaken place” when talking about ShipTrap Island.
 Example: Whitney says that Captain Nielsen
would “go up to the devil himself and ask
him for a light.”
Allusion

Allusion: a reference in a work of literature
to a well-known character, place, or
situation from literature, music, mythology,
film, religion (especially the Bible), art, or
history.
 Connell uses an allusion after Rainsford
escapes Zaroff: “Then he sat down, took a drink
of brandy from a silver flask, lit a cigarette, and
hummed a bit from Madame Butterfly.”
 Madame Butterfly is a famous opera.
Alliteration
 Alliteration:
the repetition of
consonant sounds in words that are
close to one another, typically occurs
at the beginning of words
 When Rainsford is swimming for Ship-Trap
Island, the narrator says that “he struck out
with strong strokes.”
○ The “s” sound is repeated three times.
Foreshadowing


Foreshadowing:
hints or clues of
events that have yet
to occur.
Clues in the story:
 Discussion of hunting
on the yacht
 Ship-Trap Island
 Finding the bullet
 Big animal is
unknown
Imagery

Imagery: descriptive
language that appeals
to the five senses.

Imagery of darkness
appears throughout “The
Most Dangerous Game.”
 Example: “The darkness
pressed on his eyelids like a
wet blanket.”
 This statement appeals to
the sense of touch and is a
simile.
Theme
Theme: central idea of a piece of literature,
sometimes called the moral of the story, or
the lesson
 A possible theme of “The Most Dangerous
Game” is in order to fully understand
others, we must first walk in their shoes.

 Rainsford couldn’t understand the animals he
hunted until he was in their shoes.