The. Most. Dangerous. Game.

               Imagery draws the reader into another world, and keeps their mind on the possible realistic side of a story. In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Conell, the use of expressive imagery pulls the reader in and keeps them on the edge of their seat throughout the story. The vivid words and carefully constructed sentences give the reader insight on the character’s thoughts and feelings.

                Conell uses imagery to make the characters more believable and life like. While Rainsford is on the boat, smoking his pipe, he hears gunfire coming from far out in the darkness of the night. He jumps upon the railing of the vessel to try to see clearer, but instead loses his balance and plunges into the water below. With vivid imagery, Conell describes Rainsford’s helpless situation as, “A short hoarse cry comes from his lips,” and “was pinched off short as the blood warm waters of the Caribbean Sea closed over his head” (15). Readers, just like Rainsford, do not expect this to happen and experience the same feeling of surprise as their stomach drops with Rainsford beneath the waves of the sea. Due to the author’s intense wording, they are glued to every word.

                The way a sentence is constructed can also be used as imagery, to give readers a closer look at how the characters feel. As Rainsford begins his wild chase through the island’s forest with the general hot on his trail, the audience is put inside his head as his thoughts allow them to feel his anxiety and tension. “Rainsford had fought his way through the bush for two hours. ‘I must keep my nerve. I must keep my nerve,’ He said through tight teeth.” (21). The skillful author Conell has depicted and constructed these few sentences to give the reader insight on how Rainsford feels- stressed, nervous, anxious, determined, and possibly even angry. The audience reads his words through ‘tight teeth’.

                By giving the readers a grasp on how the characters feel, the narrator creates vivid imagery in “The Most Dangerous Game”. Conell’s descriptive words allow the reader to push their way through the black & white ink on the pages and into a world where there is a ‘Most Dangerous Game’.