The Obvious
Everyone struggles in life. It’s inevitable. As much as we try to pretend that life is a fairytale it’s not. That doesn’t mean that life is never good though. Life is good, just not all the time. As life goes on it begins to challenge us more. It also brings more joy. In “The Most Dangerous Game” Rainsford says “The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees.” Rainsford couldn’t be more inaccurate.
In the Army everyone starts out as a Private; from there they work their way up to Specialist, only to rank up even more to Sergeant. Rainsford is wrong in saying that we are all either the hunter or the huntee; it’s quite clear that we are all at one point both the hunter and the huntee. Humans are born with minds like sponges, we take everything in; we are students. As we get older we become wiser, we share our information with others; we are teachers.
Rainsford lies to himself by saying that we are all one thing or the other, it’s clear that he changed within the story. When told that there was a chance that a jaguar has feelings Rainsford simply replied “Bah! They’ve no understanding.” Yet towards the end of the story it is said “Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.” Rainsford cannot be trusted to be right, when he has clearly contradicted himself here. Much like Rainsford, General Zaroff changes. He says “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure, I am strong,” Yet in the end General Zaroff becomes dinner for his dogs. Once the hunter, he becomes the huntee.
As much as Rainsford would like to believe he isn’t, he’s incorrect. There are no two classes. We’re not just one thing or the other. We are many things. All of us face struggles in life, we are all at one point the hunter and at another point the huntee. We grow, and we change. We never stay the same.