Before Reading The Most Dangerous Game Short Story by Richard Connell VIDEO TRAILER KEYWORD: HML9-58 What does it take to be a SURVIVOR? In a test of survival, what traits enable a person to succeed? That’s the question posed in “The Most Dangerous Game,” an adventure RL 4 Analyze the cumulative story that has thrilled readers since it was first published. impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. RL 5 Analyze how an author’s choices DISCUSS Brainstorm in a group to identify a situation concerning how to structure a Traits of a Survivor text, order events within it, and that could be a test of survival. This could be as dramatic manipulate time create such 1. resourcefulness 3. effects as mystery, tension, or as a raging flood or as personal as losing a parent. surprise. L 4 Determine the Discuss the qualities and abilities that a person would meaning of unknown or multiple- Survivor meaning words. need to meet the test, and provide reasons for each choice. (a flood) Then list all the traits you generated and rank the top four, placing them in a diagram like the one shown. 2. intelligence 4. 58 NA_L09PE-u01s2-brDang.indd 58 1/14/11 7:37:39 AM Meet the Author text analysis: conflict In the rising action of a story, a writer generally introduces Richard Connell one or more conflicts that the main character faces. As the 1893–1949 rising action unfolds, complications arise that intensify the A Writing Life conflicts and add to the reader’s sense of suspense. Plot events, Even as a young boy, Richard Connell loved however, are not always as linear—or directly chronological—as to write. When he was only 10 years old, this model might suggest. Devices such as foreshadowing, he covered baseball games for his father’s daily newspaper in Poughkeepsie, New York. flashbacks, and flash-forwards can further heighten the By 16, Connell was city editor for the same reader’s suspense as the conflict and tension build. As you read newspaper. After graduating from Harvard “The Most Dangerous Game,” identify the conflicts the main and serving in World War I, Connell wrote character faces and note any complications that arise. more than 300 short stories, as well as novels and screenplays. Many of his short stories reading strategy: visualize became successful films. Connell’s success enabled him to travel the world and then Good readers constantly visualize, or use details in a story to settle comfortably in Beverly Hills, California, form sensory images of the settings, characters, and events. on the opposite side of the country from his In this story, for example, Connell’s specific word choices help previous hometown of Poughkeepsie. create an image of a dangerous island where strange things One-Story Legacy happen. As you read, practice the strategy of visualizing. Use Although Connell became a prosperous a chart like the one shown to record story details that form writer during his lifetime, only one of his sensory images for you. stories—“The Most Dangerous Game”—is widely read today. It won the O. Henry Details from Story What I Visualize Memorial Prize in 1924. Because of its action- packed and suspenseful plot, it remains a Dank tropical night . thick The dark, heavy air is almost popular and frequently anthologized work. warm blackness like a blanket. background to the story Big-Game Hunting Review: Predict Hunting for big game, such as lions, rhinos, and leopards, was a popular sport among vocabulary in context wealthy people in the early 20th century. Use the context to help you figure out the meaning of each These people had time and money to spend boldfaced word below. on travel and on satisfying their thirst for conquest, danger, and excitement. The two 1. real and tangible 7. a droll, self-mocking grin main characters in “The Most Dangerous 2. the hunter’s quarry 8. felt no scruples about Game” are experienced hunters in search of a greater challenge. 3. put at ease by his breaking traffic laws disarming smile 9. asked solicitously about 4. a charming, my health cultivated woman 10. recommended but 5. a cruise ship offering not imperative every amenity 11. zealous support of the AuthorAuthor 6. condone rather mayor’s program OnlineOnline than condemn 12. an uncanny coincidence Go to thinkcentral.comthin . KEYWORD:KEYWORD HML9-59 Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. 59 NA_L09PE-u01s2-brDang.indd 59 1/14/11 7:37:51 AM DangerousThe Most Game Richard Connell “Off there to the right—somewhere—is a large island,” said Whitney. “It’s rather a mystery—” “What island is it?” Rainsford asked. What mood does the photo stir in you? Decide “The old charts call it ‘Ship-Trap Island,’” Whitney replied. “A suggestive which details work to name, isn’t it? Sailors have a curious dread of the place. I don’t know why. evoke this feeling. Some superstition—” “Can’t see it,” remarked Rainsford, trying to peer through the dank tropical night that was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht. “You’ve good eyes,” said Whitney, with a laugh, “and I’ve seen you pick off a 10 moose moving in the brown fall bush at four hundred yards, but even you can’t see four miles or so through a moonless Caribbean night.” “Nor four yards,” admitted Rainsford. “Ugh! It’s like moist black velvet.” “It will be light enough in Rio,”1 promised Whitney. “We should make it in a few days. I hope the jaguar guns have come from Purdey’s. We should have some good hunting up the Amazon. Great sport, hunting.” “The best sport in the world,” agreed Rainsford. “For the hunter,” amended Whitney. “Not for the jaguar.” “Don’t talk rot, Whitney,” said Rainsford. “You’re a big-game hunter, not a a CONFLICT Reread lines 16–21. What philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?” can you conclude about 20 “Perhaps the jaguar does,” observed Whitney. Rainsford from his “Bah! They’ve no understanding.” a conflict with Whitney? 1. Rio: Rio de Janeiro (rCPI dA zhE-nârPI), a city on the coast of Brazil. 60 unit 1: narrative structure NA_L09PE-u01s2-Danger.indd 60 1/14/11 7:39:06 AM NA_L09PE-u01s2-Danger.indd 61 1/14/11 7:39:20 AM “Even so, I rather think they understand one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.” “Nonsense,” laughed Rainsford. “This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters. Do you think we’ve passed that island yet?’’ “I can’t tell in the dark. I hope so.” “Why?” asked Rainsford. 30 “The place has a reputation—a bad one.” “Cannibals?” suggested Rainsford. “Hardly. Even cannibals wouldn’t live in such a Godforsaken place. But it’s gotten into sailor lore, somehow. Didn’t you notice that the crew’s nerves seemed a bit jumpy today?” “They were a bit strange, now you mention it. Even Captain Nielsen—” “Yes, even that tough-minded old Swede, who’d go up to the devil himself and ask him for a light. Those fishy blue eyes held a look I never saw there before. All I could get out of him was: ‘This place has an evil name among seafaring men, sir.’ Then he said to me, very gravely: ‘Don’t you feel 40 anything?’—as if the air about us was actually poisonous. Now, you mustn’t laugh when I tell you this—I did feel something like a sudden chill. b b PREDICT “There was no breeze. The sea was as flat as a plate-glass window. We were Reread lines 30–41. drawing near the island then. What I felt was a—a mental chill; a sort of Notice that even a hard- boiled sailor is fearful of sudden dread.” the island. What do you “Pure imagination,” said Rainsford. “One superstitious sailor can taint the predict might happen on whole ship’s company with his fear.” the island? “Maybe. But sometimes I think sailors have an extra sense that tells them when they are in danger. Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing—with tangible (tBnPjE-bEl) adj. wavelengths, just as sound and light have. An evil place can, so to speak, capable of being touched or felt; having actual form 50 broadcast vibrations of evil. Anyhow, I’m glad we’re getting out of this zone. and substance Well, I think I’ll turn in now, Rainsford.” “I’m not sleepy,” said Rainsford. “I’m going to smoke another pipe up on the afterdeck.” “Good night, then, Rainsford. See you at breakfast.” “Right. Good night, Whitney.” There was no sound in the night as Rainsford sat there but the muffled throb of the engine that drove the yacht swiftly through the darkness, and the c VISUALIZE swish and ripple of the wash of the propeller. Rainsford, reclining in a steamer chair, indolently puffed on his favorite Reread lines 59–62, trying to visualize Rainsford. 60 2 brier. The sensuous drowsiness of the night was on him. “It’s so dark,” he What does the author’s thought, “that I could sleep without closing my eyes; the night would be my description tell you about eyelids—” c Rainsford’s mood? 2. brier (brFPEr): a tobacco pipe. 62 unit 1: narrative structure NA_L09PE-u01s2-Danger.indd 62 1/14/11 7:39:24 AM An abrupt sound startled him.