Animal Rights?

I found it interesting the way Connell began The Most Dangerous Game. The conversation between Whitney and Rainsford on the boat made me think that this story was an “awakening” story for animal rights. When Rainsford makes fun of Whitney as she expresses her concerns for animals’ feelings, I can’t deny I sided with Whitney. Because Connell started his story in this way, it made it hard for me to see this as a story of terror and horror, but instead to focus on the whole animal rights view of things.

The only reason this story was considered grotesque and horrible was because it was our species, the human species, that was being hunted. Just as Whitney had said, “Even so, I rather think they understand one thing – fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.” Maybe this is a supposed to add eeriness, but instead I just thought of it as a good argument for animal rights. People argue animals don’t have feels, but we know they feel pain and we know that they fight for their lives.

One very grotesque part of the story is when General Zaroff wants to show off his “collection of heads” to Rainsford. Rainsford is utterly disgusted, as would be any humane person’s reaction when thinking of heads mounted on a wall for show. Again, this is what we do to exotic animals, animals that are going extinct, and yet these “heads” are considered prized possessions. Just as General Zaroff desired to hunt Rainsford because he was the rarest of his breed in that he had great knowledge and hunting tactics, some hunters will only hunt the finest, most beautiful animals of species. In order for this story to evoke more terror in me, it needed to not relate to the feelings of animals because I’m not going to lie, I love animals.