Can a man be driven from humble humanity to gross inhumanity by circumstance or situation? What effect do one’s choices and training have on his morals? At some point in our lives we will all be forced to answer questions similar to these, and two characters in Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game” are not exempt from these life decisions. Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff are both wealthy, both are hunters, and eventually both men are put into situations where critical choices must be made. The choices the men make are derived from different situations, but both have similar results.
Initially the setting of the story is on a yacht in the Carribbean. Rainsford is involved in small talk with his friend, Whitney, and the conversation is about their favorite hobby, hunting big game. The fact that these men could afford a hunting trip to the Amazon speaks of their wealth, and these men have apparently taken several trips together. General Zaroff is not unlike Rainsford in this respect. From his childhood, Z…
The Tragic Tale of Paul’s Case
The Tragic Tale of Paul’s Case
Love could have saved Paul in Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case,” but love does not find Paul. It is withheld within the hearts of all the people that could have shown affection toward Paul. Although Paul’s life ends in suicide, Paul’s English teacher, Charley Edwards, or Paul’s father could have prevented his premature death.
First, Paul’s English teacher could have prevented Paul’s suicide. After her confrontation with Paul at the chalkboard, she becomes Paul’s greatest school adversary. She is Paul’s leading detractor at his meeting with the principal, but not without regret. Cather writes, “His teachers left the building dissatisfied and unhappy; humiliated to have felt so vindictive toward a mere boy, to have uttered this feeling in cutting terms, and to have set each other on, as it were, in the gruesome game of intemperate reproach” (156). The regretful English teacher should have spoken to Paul alone, but the story tells of no such occasion. Even though she has blown an opportunity to understand Paul, she is given another chance. During…