Early -- very early -- in Richard Edward Connell's short
story The Most Dangerous Game, there is an exchange between the
story's protagonist, Sanger Rainsford, and his hunting partner, Whitney, regarding their
upcoming adventure in the jungles of the Amazon. In this exchange, Rainsford's attitude
toward hunting is made very clear:
Whitney: We should
have some good hunting up the Amazon. Great sport,
hunting.
Rainsford: The best
sport in the world.
Whitney:
For the hunter. Not for the
jaguar.
Rainsford: Don't talk
rot, Whitney. You're a big game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar
feels?
Sanger Rainsford's
attitude toward hunting is as positive as an attitude can get. He lives for hunting; it
defines him. That is the purpose of his travels to exotic locales like the Amazon, and,
his passion for hunting is key to Connell's plot, which revolves around General Zaroff's
ability to 'turn the tables' on his unsuspecting victim. It is through the psychotic
general's "game" that Rainsford is, for the first time, allowed to experience his own
favorite past-time through the eyes of the hunted rather than the hunter. The above
passage illuminates Rainsford's cavalier attitude towards other species. For him,
animals exist only for his entertainment. Now that he has been forced to assume the role
of animal, he can understand the moral dimension of hunting a little
better.
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