Richard Conell begins "The Most Dangerous Game" with direct dialogue to involve readers immediately in the story. He uses the character's dialogue to establish setting - the tropical Caribbean. It is "like moist dark velvet," and all is surrounded in "thick warm blackness" due to the moonless night. The setting and lush descriptions instantly create a creepy, ominous mood.
As the story continues, the superstitious talk of tangible evil raises tension. The events of the...
Richard Conell begins "The Most Dangerous Game" with direct dialogue to involve readers immediately in the story. He uses the character's dialogue to establish setting - the tropical Caribbean. It is "like moist dark velvet," and all is surrounded in "thick warm blackness" due to the moonless night. The setting and lush descriptions instantly create a creepy, ominous mood.
As the story continues, the superstitious talk of tangible evil raises tension. The events of the story - Rainsford falling off the yacht, swimming to the brink of exhaustion, finally being rescued by General Zaroff - are points of building and falling tension. The realisation that General Zaroff hunts men is a turning point in the story, for the mood is solidified and the reader is certain that something terrible will happen.
As for organisation, the hunt occurs over three days. Each day is detailed, and each day holds new challenges and new terrors for Rainsford. Each plan (the complicated trail, the man-catching trap, the tiger trap, the knife) brings new hope, but each one fails. The mood is still ominous, but the story is constantly exciting and new. Rainsford's final plan, to swim to the chateau and win the hunt, succeeds! The suspense in the final line, "He had never slept better in a bed, Rainsford decided," allows the suspense to linger until the penultimate word of the story. Story organisation and even sentence structure contribute to the ominous yet exciting mood of the tale.
No comments:
Post a Comment