1
Writing
14 January 2015
Email: [email protected].
Survival in "The Most Dangerous Game”
Narrow Thesis
The psycho path mind of General Zaroff, maybe it’s infectious! The point of this book
is kinda freaky. To know that out there, there is probably someone or some people who think
like this. I would hate to run into them (Unless it knocks them over and they get amnesia, not
remembering what they do, now that would be lucky!). But it is very strange and scary to
think that there are some people out there that think that way. And I bet you they are. And
maybe it’s infectious!
But it is even freakier to think you have probably walked by psycho paths like this or
even worse than that in your life time. If you are ten or older I bet you have walked passed at
least 5 of ‘em. Anyways, here is what supports my thesis the plot of the book (Sorry but I
didn’t know how to show my thesis without saying the whole plot): Sanger Rainsford is an
avid hunter. He hunts predators all over the world. Him and a friend where on a boat, sailing
to the Amazon River basin. Rainsford hears gunshots on a nearby island and clambers onto
the railing to get a better view, of course his pipe comes lose and he goes to grab it, falling
into the water. And no one on board was with him so they keep going and don’t realize he’s
not aboard!
He knows he can’t catch up to the boat so he swims to Ship-Trap Island, the island
they are passing, also where he heard the gun shots. On his way to the island he hears the
cries of an animal in pain until they stop from a gunshot. He soon gets to the shore and falls
asleep. He wakes up and looks for food and water. He reaches the spot where a big animal
had thrashed around on the ground, finding a pistol cartridge nearby.
After following the footsteps for quite a while he finds a palatial chateau. At first he
thinks it is a mirage but soon finds it not. Meeting the owner who is General Zaroff, he soon
realizes that Zaroff is a psychco path who hunts shipwrecked sailors. He refuses the offer of
hunting with Zaroff and when Zaroff comes back, he makes up his mind to leave, but Zaroff
has other plans. Zaroff discovered after going off to hunt that shipwrecked sailors were too
boring now.
He then tells Rainsford that he is not allowed to leave, at least through the front door.
He tells Rainsford that if he wants to leave that he must survive 3 days of being hunted! Only
having food, clothes, and a knife he sets out. Zaroff gives him a head start then finds him. He
lets him go to prolong the pleasure of the hunt. Rainsford runs to another part of a jungle and
makes a Malayan mancatcher to kill Zaroff but it only wounds him. Zaroff returns home
vowing he will kill Rainsford the next day.
Rainsford runs for what it seems like forever but he actually has only been running for
about 2 hours. He falls into a quicksand bed and is able to get out. He stops and thinks about
what he should do to kill Ivan and/or Zaroff and decides to dig a pit a couple feet in front of
the quicksand, right where soft sand is. The trap kills Ivan but at the expense of his knife. The
dogs keep going and corner Rainsford at the edge of a cliff. He jumps off the cliff into the
water below instead of facing the pack of dogs. Zaroff, disappointed (I guess thinking that he
had killed himself) goes home.
He goes home and turns on the light in his bedroom and finds Rainsford standing
there half hidden behind the curtain. Before they fight General Zaroff exclaims “The dogs will
eat one of us that night while the other will sleep in the comfortable bed”. Later Rainsford
comments on how comfortable the bed is. He now has a psycho pathic thought. See this
sentence conforms my suspicions! It is spreadable.
That one sentence tells you right there that it may actually be contagious! There are
many psycho’s out there. They are few in number but they are growing! Don’t let them catch
you off guard.
Work Cited page
1. Plot from: http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-most-dangerousgame/context.html.
2. MLA Formatting from: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.
3. Idea from my schooling: http://allinonehomeschool.com/grades/eighth/.
4. Book: Dangerous games.
Myself Graded: 36 out of 40