The most dangerous game sparknotes characters

Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Most Dangerous Game , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Sanger Rainsford and his friend Whitney are sailing on a yacht heading to the Amazon to hunt jaguars.

The darkness of the evening immediately creates a mysterious, foreboding atmosphere and associates the island with a strong sense of dread. Even Whitney, a courageous hunter of jaguars, is afraid of the island. Active Themes. Civilization and Community. Related Quotes with Explanations. Between comments about the island , Rainsford and Whitney who are both hunters argue about whether animals experience thoughts and feelings.

Rainsford concludes that animals understand nothing and that living creatures are divided into hunters and prey. Here, Connell establishes one of the overarching themes of the narrative: predator vs. Condoned Violence vs. Rainsford stays on deck for a late-night smoke when he hears three gunshots in the distance. Leaning over the railing to investigate, he loses his balance and falls overboard.

The sound of gunshots coming from the direction of the island is the first hint that it is inhabited. The gunshot sounds pull Rainsford into the ocean away from the safety of his friends on the yacht. By demonstrating how cool-headed Rainsford remains in an emergency situation, Connell shows readers that he is experienced at survival and possesses impressive stamina to make it to the island.

The gunshots and screams sounds of violence would make most people shrink away, but Rainsford is drawn to them, expecting that he will safety with another hunter. The lights guide him not to a village but an enormous mansion , which he takes for a mirage at first. Rainsford assumes the blood in the grass is animal blood, and the evidence of a hunter outfitted with a pistol and hunting boots suggests civilized inhabitants, making Rainsford hopeful for food and shelter.

The unexpected appearance of the mansion reinforces assumptions about the inhabitants; only people of high society could have a house like that. But such an estate suggests something more: it is a permanent dwelling that undoubtedly required an enormous effort to construct and maintain, indicating that the owner made a deliberate choice to live away from the rest of civilization.

Rainsford knocks on the front door, and a giant man opens it, pointing a gun at him. An older and more elegant man appears and introduces himself as General Zaroff and the large man as Ivan , his servant who is deaf and mute. The loaded pistol is an unexpected and violent greeting from such an elegant place, warning Rainsford and the reader that the inhabitants might not be as civilized as their house would suggest.

Please wait while we process your payment. Sign up and get instant access to save the page as your favorite. Characters General Zaroff. Previous section Sanger Rainsford. Themes Motifs Symbols. Important Quotes Explained. Please wait while we process your payment. Sign up and get instant access to save the page as your favorite. Characters Character List. Rainsford believes that the world consists only of predators and prey, although Whitney is not as certain. Noticing the jitteriness of the crew, Whitney wants to sail past the mysterious island as soon as possible.

He theorizes that sailors can sense danger and that evil emanates in waves like light and sound. Whitney then decides to turn in for the night, but Rainsford opts to smoke his pipe on the afterdeck for a while. Suddenly, he hears three gunshots in the distance and moves toward the railing of the deck to investigate.

Hoisting himself onto the rail to try and get a better look, Rainsford drops his pipe, loses his balance in an attempt to catch it, and accidentally plunges into the water. His cries for help go unanswered, and the yacht quickly disappears into the night. He hears the screeching sound of an animal in agony and heads straight for it, until the cries end abruptly with a pistol shot.

Exhausted, Rainsford reaches the rocky shore and immediately falls into a deep sleep. He wakes the next afternoon and sets off in search of food, forced to skirt the thick growth of the jungle and walk along the shore. He soon comes to a bloody, torn-up patch of vegetation where a large animal had thrashed about. He finds an empty rifle cartridge nearby. At first, Rainsford thinks the chateau is a mirage, until he opens the iron gate and knocks on the door.