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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Zaroff believe fighting in the war should have taught Rainsford?

2. If someone refuses to participate in Zaroff's hunting game, what does he do?

3. What spot on the island does Zaroff warn Rainsford to stay away from?

4. What is in General Zaroff's cellar?

5. What word does Zaroff use frequently to describe his life on the island?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Zaroff obtain his victims?

2. What does Zaroff want to show Rainsford in the cellar and in the library, and what does this tell the reader about him?

3. What part of the island does Zaroff tell Rainsford to avoid, and what are at least two likely motives for his warning?

4. How does Zaroff characterize Rainsford's views on hunting human beings?

5. What does the sentence "He was in a picture with a frame of water, and his operations, clearly, must take place within that frame" mean? (49)

6. What does General Zaroff's definition of "civilized" seem to be?

7. What are the terms of General Zaroff's "game"?

8. What does Zaroff ask Rainsford to promise him he will do if he wins the "game," and what is the result?

9. Explain at least two ways in which the story's title can be understood.

10. How does General Zaroff react to Rainsford's various traps?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Connell frequently uses references to specific foods and wines, books, music, and so on as a method of characterizing General Zaroff. What does this tell us about General Zaroff? And why does Connell do it so often--do the references tell the reader separate things about Zaroff, or do they serve another purpose? Write an essay that analyzes the use of these details. Be sure to use textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 2

When Zaroff explains what kind of men he hunts, he makes it clear that he considers a particular sort of person beneath him--barely human. Write an essay in which you analyze his remarks to show what distinctions he is making between "types" of human beings and how this functions thematically in the overall story. Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you analyze the title of the story "The Most Dangerous Game." In your essay, explain how the multiple layers of meaning in the title develop throughout the story and how these multiple layers support the story's meaning. Be sure to use textual evidence to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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