Most Dangerous Game

Suspense of in “The Most Dangerous Game” Suspense is when the reader anxiously want to know more but the author waits to give them further information. In “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, suspense is used in many situations. A big-game hunter named Rainsford, who is from New York, falls aboard and swims to the island. He gets trapped on the island of a sadistic fellow hunter General Zaroff, who bored with conventional prey, has come to see humans as the only quarry worthy of his skill, hunting man. Plays his hunting games with Rainsford.

Connell creates suspense through grammar, cliffhangers and holding the resolution until the last sentence. Richard Connell uses grammar to create suspense. For Rainsford, when he was in the water had no other choice than to follow the gunshots he had heard, which bought him to the mansion of General Zaroff. While discussing about the dangerous animal on island, Rainsford asked if it was tiger, the General gives him clues about what animal it was. At the point when Rainsford understand the games being played on the island, he says, “‘But you can’t mean – ‘ gasped Rainsford”(21).

The author uses grammar to create suspense at this situation because he restricts the reader from knowing what Rainsford knows for which he uses hyphen. Finally Rainsford says, ‘”Hunting? General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder”‘(21). Then the reader understands the animal Zaroff hunts is man. This time Connell uses cliffhangers to create suspense. When the game was being played between Rainsford and the General, the General brought Ivan and his dogs to look for Rainsford. Rainsford thought of a native trick he learned in Uganda.

He uses the trick and starts running again, after a while he thought to climb up a tree to see the result of his trick. Rainsford panicked and saw a blue gap between the trees. The author mentions, “Then he leaped far out into the sea. . . . “(30). Rainsford got into the sea but the author uses cliffhanger for his suspense this time. He ends the section without providing further information to the anxious readers. Instead of continuing the plot he goes on to talk about General Zaroff restricting the readers from the knowing what Rainsford did and where he went.

Connell holds the resolution till the end of the story to create suspense. The most important part the reader looks for is ‘what happens in the end? ‘. When General was approaching his mansion, Rainsford wishes him luck for next time standing up in the balcony of the mansion. The general appreciates him for his way of getting up there and tells him that he has to repay for his dog. But then the author writes, ” He had never slept in a better bed decided, Rainsford”(30). The author finally ends the suspense here. It takes until the last sentence of the story to have any resolution.

Richard Connell uses grammar, cliffhanger and hold the resolution till the end of the story to create suspense at certain points. First, the author makes the reader wait to know about the animal being hunted on island by using hyphens to create suspense. Then, he ends a section without providing further information of what Rainsford is doing and where did he go. Finally, he ends the story without letting know the anxious readers about what happens to Rainsford. This was a suspenseful story. It provides us knowledge about how suspense can be used in different styles.