Analyzing Suspense in ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ Anonymous 8th Grade

Suspense is one of the most effective tools used to grip the readers undivided attention in creative writing. It pulls the reader into the story, and gets them invested in the characters and the story line. It creates the intense feeling of needing to know what happens next. In “The Most Dangerous Game” Richard Connell successfully sustains the suspense with his skillful use of diction and setting as well as the carefully crafted antagonist, General Zaroff.

Richard Connell’s use of setting to increase the suspense is impeccable. In the beginning of the story, when Rainsford and some crew members are discussing ‘Ship Trap Island’ one of the crew members says “The place has a reputation, a bad one” and another says “This place has an evil name among seafaring men” to describe the island General Zaroff inhabits and hunts on (also known as ‘Ship Trap Island’). The reader feels anxious and nervous and wonders about what gives this island its fear-invoking reputation. Later in the story, when General Zaroff (antagonist) describes his hunting and how he traps people on his island, he says “Giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide open jaws”. Using the analogy of ‘a sea monster with wide open jaws’ makes the...