Hunting Humans On His Island example essay topic

The short story "Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell is the suspenseful tale of the ultimate hunter, one who hunts humans in a sick, twisted game of cat-and-mouse. The one of the overall themes of the story, as I personally saw it, was a warning of becoming too obsessed with a hobby and the chase for excitement. In the story Zaroff is a hunter who has been hunting for so long, and has become so adept at it, that he now finds it dull to hunt even the most dangerous animals in the world (i.e. the water buffalo, tiger, jaguar, etc. ). He has resorted to trapping and hunting humans on his island, which is cleverly named "Ship-Trap Island". By hunting so many animals for so many years, Zaroff has taken the fun out of his former hobby and transformed it into an obsession.

By continually seeking out greater and greater excitement in his hunts, Zaroff has destroyed his hobby and warped his mind. He has convinced himself that hunting humans is acceptable. The description of Zaroff illustrated to me a proper hunter like one would see in a movie; a proper English, in this case Cossack, gentleman hunter. The ideal physical description of General Zaroff, along with his contrasting mental state, forms, in my mind, the ideal antagonist of such a story.

I envision him as a great hunter, a perfect killer of sorts. Add to this a deranged mental state, and the antagonist is born. Zaroff meets an ironic fate, however, when his quest for the "most dangerous game" leads him to face off against a fellow big-game hunter. After years chasing the ultimate hunt, Zaroff finds it in Rains ford, who is more than Zaroff can handle.

This ironic twist conveyed to me that instead of chasing after the elusive "ultimate" thrill in one's life, he should just be content doing something that makes him happy. For, a hobby is no longer a hobby once the joy is eliminated from it. The theme of this story also touched me in a more personal light. One of my hobbies outside of school is playing the guitar and writing music for my band.

I had been playing for about a year when I was overcome by what seemed to me a severe lapse in creativity. I had written about three pieces of music up until this point and, in my eyes, these pieces were not up to par with what I felt I was capable of as a player. So I locked myself in my room, shut out the rest of the world, and did nothing but play. I did not play others songs (a thing I previously found to be extremely fun), I only played what original thoughts came into my mind. During this 'experiment,' I came to realize I was not playing guitar for the same reasons I used to play. I used to play to have fun and to be somewhat good at it, but now my mind had slipped into a dark place and I was overcome by the hunger to be the best in others' eyes.

Luckily for me, I realized that I had almost destroyed the fun that used to overtake me when I picked up my guitar. I realized that everything has its limits, and if you go testing those limits too much, the only thing you will find is darkness and gloom. Maybe I am completely off-base with the author's intended theme or message, but this is what I personally gained from the story.