It's always interesting to read something that you have read a few years prior all over again. I feel that each time, you find something new in the story that you weren't quite able to grasp before...whether it's underlying symbolism, motifs, or even just themes that the author was trying to emphasize. The first time that I read The Most Dangerous Game was in the seventh grade. What I remembered of the plot was just that it was dark and dangerous; a fun read, especially compared to all of the other boring stuff that they throw into anthologies for middle school English classes. I read the novel yet a second time my freshman year of high school at Lafayette. Again, the events of the plot were all that the teacher really chose to focus on in the class discussion. My third reading of Connell's classic short story took place about 4 days ago. I'm a senior in high school now, so my thought process during reading has changed a little bit since the good old days of Advanced English 1.
What I found in the novel during this third read was Connell's underlying idea of the hunter being the hunted and how the role reversal was able to show Rainsford the empathy towards life that, through his hunting career, he had lacked. In his desperation to evade General Zaroff and his hounds, the protagonist was thrown into a hell-ish situation of fear and desperation to stay alive. This same situation could be mirrored with Rainsford as the General and the game that he hunted just for the fun of it. Zaroff, on the other hand, had completely lost any empathy for life at all; he was so obsessed with his sport that it's value, and his love of the challenges that it could pose, made him completely lose his sense of humanity. There was also a certain sense of hypocracy that I noticed; It was completely okay for Rainsford to run around senselessly killing game that he didn't really need for food or survival just for kicks and giggles. However, it was not okay for the same to be done with him as the victim. However, I do understand that most people would not accept this theme, being that we tend to believe human lives are much more important than those of beasts. The fusion of this short story between a literary and a commerical read, with it's disturbing plot twists and dark elements, made it very fun to read while still giving the reader a lot to grasp underlying the plot itself. I enjoyed being able to see the classic in a new and more complex manner whilst reading it this time around.
I completely agree! I remember reading the most dangerous game in 7th grade too, and I thought it was a cool story, but that's about it. Reading it again I was able to appreciate it so much more.
ReplyDeleteI love what happens when you read something AGAIN. Obviously as a teacher, I tend to read some of the same things over and over, year after year. But there's also something new to be discovered EVERY TIME.
ReplyDeleteIt really is interesting when you go back to something that you read yeas ago, read it again and realize that you missed so much that was in it the first time. I do this a lot to when I ever I watch old movies I havent seen in a while, especially ones from when I was little.
ReplyDeleteIt is cool when you read a book or watch a movie that you haven't seen in a really long time and now that you have grown and changed so much, you feel like you're experiencing a whole new thing this time around.
ReplyDelete