Why does the general wish to hunt Rainsford? Zaroff wants to hunt someone who will actually challenge him.

Zaroff justifies hunting people because he is trapping ships and taking sailors. If he kills them, he believes that means they are weak and deserve to die. He uses the survival of the fittest argument, saying, Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong.

Jonathan Beutlich, M.A. The name of the new animal that General Zaroff hunts is Homo sapien. In layman’s terms, General Zaroff has started hunting humans. While talking to Rainsford, General Zaroff admits that he is bored with hunting all other types of prey.

His bloodlust and passion for hunting eventually prompted him to hunt men, the most cunning and challenging prey he could find. His passion for the hunt and love of the refined, meanwhile, led him to devalue human life.

In “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff explains to Rainsford that he wants the ideal animal to hunt, which must have the attributes of an ideal quarry (prey). Zaroff explains, “It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason,” (Connell 12).

Why is Rainsford filled with terror when the general smiles and turns back? The general is playing cat and mouse – and Rainsford is the mouse. Rainsford is going to have face the quicksand. The general is beginning to look more and more like Ivan.

Rainsford has become the prey and is essentially forced to act like a “beast at bay,” which is a hunting term that describes the defensive nature of an animal facing a predator. When prey is “at bay,” the animal is out of options and willing to fight at all costs.

The term “beast at bay” is an idiom associated with a trapped animal’s defensive instinct. Essentially, Rainsford is telling Zaroff that he still feels like he is a cornered animal that is willing and ready to fight.

When he gets to the island, he hears the waves crashing against the jagged cliffs. He climbs those jagged cliffs, hand over hand, until he reaches the top. He is exhausted at the end, but obviously very fit.

Sanger Rainsford