The weak die out and the strong will survive and live on forever. In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game” lies a theme of survival of the fittest. The two main characters, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff, are both big game skilled hunters. In fact, Rainsford even wrote a book about his findings. As for Zaroff, he’s hunted every animal and has become quite skilled at it, but will that keep his interest? The short story contains an unordinary “game” in which the hunter becomes the hunted.
The antagonist of the story, General Zaroff, has been a hunter since he was a small boy. By the age of 10, he killed his first bear. “God makes some men poets. Some He makes kings, some beggars. Me, He made a hunter.” He believed his purpose from God was to be a hunter. His father encouraged him. “My hand was made for the trigger, my father said.” Although, he himself didn’t believe he was a bad person or that he was doing anything wrong, it was known that this kind of hunting was not condoned for any reason. “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure,” with this quote we can construe that he strongly lived by this motto of “survival of the fittest.”
Sanger Rainsford is a big-game hunter and has written many books sharing his experiences. In the beginning of the story he believes the prey he hunts doesn’t have feelings at all. Whitney, Rainsford’s friend, first comments about how the “game” is fun for the hunter and not the jaguar. Rainsford then replies, “You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?… They’ve no understanding.” As the story goes on, however, we see a change. After learning Zaroff’s secret, he’s forced to become the hunted. Luckily for him he was experienced and knew all the hunter’s tricks. He set up many traps in hopes of harming Zaroff. In order for Rainsford to survive he had to overcome obstacles, and outsmart the hunter to learn what it means to be “survival of the fittest.”
In “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell provided a great example of survival of the fittest. Rainsford had to outsmart Zaroff to defeat him. In the end, Rainsford slept in Zaroff’s bed, meaning he won the game. He proved he was stronger and more intelligent than Zaroff, and did what he had to do to survive. In this case, it’s a twist within a twist, the hunter becomes the hunted (Rainsford) who then has to hunt the hunter (Zaroff).
The Most Dangerous Game 