Question

Along with what they state directly, writers often leave some elements of a story untold. Readers must infer these details based on what they are told. List three to five inferences that you can make from the story "The Most Dangerous Game" and note the clues that led you to make each inference.

Answer 1

When Rainsford reaches the island and starts walking, he comes to a place where there are signs of a struggle. The “fairly large animal” that “thrashed about” in the woods, leaving trails of crimson was most likely a human that Zaroff killed. The “high screaming sound, the sound of an animal in an extremity of anguish and terror” came from the human that Zaroff killed. The crimson trail was a trail of blood.

Zaroff has a hand in making the island truly a Ship-Trap Island. He says, “Sometimes, when Providence is not so kind, I help Providence a bit.” He uses flashes of light to confuse the captains of ships into believing there is a channel where there is none. This causes passing ships to get shipwrecked, and the sailors end up at the bottom of the sea or in Zaroff’s cellar.

When Zaroff invites Rainsford to his library to show him a “new set of heads,” trophies that he collected from his latest hunting exploits, he is going to show him human heads.

Zaroff carries a pistol and gives his human prey only a hunting knife. He knows that in direct combat he may not be able to kill his enemy.

In the end, when Rainsford decides he has never slept in a better bed, it is evident that he has killed Zaroff.

Answer 2

Whitney, Rainsford’s friend, is traveling with him on a hunting expedition to the Amazon. Whitney is also a big-game hunter, but unlike Rainsford, he believes that animals feel “the fear of pain and the fear of death” when hunted. Whitney seems more perceptive and observant than Rainsford. He notices that “the crew's nerves seemed a bit jumpy” as they are passing the mysterious island. He seems to be a good conversationalist and is able to extract information even from the reluctant captain of the ship. Whitney also has good instincts. He feels “a mental chill; a sort of sudden dread” as they near the island. He does not dismiss the fears of the sailors as mere superstitions but instead respects their “extra sense” that indicates danger. He believes evil is tangible, and he prefers to stay away from evil. 

If it had been Whitney on the island instead of Rainsford, Whitney’s perceptiveness and ability to understand human nature may have helped him to recognize Zaroff’s evil nature at the very beginning. He may not have even gone inside the chateau; he likely would have figured out from the signs of struggle in the bush that a murder happened in the forest and connected it to Zaroff. If Whitney even reached the chateau, he would be more alert than Rainsford to signs of evil and trouble, as he was on the ship. Based on his behavior early in the story, you can guess that he would be perceptive enough to realize that Zaroff is not as nice and hospitable as he pretends to be. Whitney is a big-game hunter too, but possibly not as famed as Rainsford, so Zaroff may not have known him. But on recognizing that Whitney is Rainsford’s companion, Zaroff might have considered him a worthy opponent for the hunt. As a constant companion of Rainsford and a perceptive person, Whitney may have defeated Zaroff, just like Rainsford was able to. However, unlike Rainsford, he likely would not have gone back to get revenge, since he’d prefer to stay away from the evil general.