The Most Dangerous Game is a short story written by Joseph Conrad. While reading this short story, I noticed how involved I was. I wondered how the author was doing this and keeping me reading till the end. I thought about four specific devices he uses, which are characters, plot, setting, and imagery. These devices were used to keep suspense flowing through the story to keep me reading. By using characters, he sets up what the characters look like and how they act. With setting, he gives you a picture of what is around you so you can kind of see what's going on. Imagery is how he appeals to your senses. Plot is the basic story and what he writes in it to keep you involved.
             The author using characters brought upon the first device used to build suspense in the short story. There are three main characters in the story. The first character, Rainsford, brings immediate suspense. He is a big-game hunter who is from New York. In the beginning of the story, he talks about hunting with his friend. They get into a conversation about the jaguar-guns and how the jaguar-game is pretty good in South America. Throughout the story, he is very suspenseful just by the way he acts. He acts like a gentleman while talking to General Zaroff, but in the end, he turns into this "beast at bay." The second character the reader meets is Ivan. He is a big Cossack from Russia and is deaf and dumb. He brings out suspense because he is General Zarroffs huge bodyguard and servant. When the reader gets to the first scene with him, he opens the door holding a revolver straight at Rainsford. The last main character is General Zaroff. He is very exciting and suspenseful. He hunts humans! The author describes his face as thin, with a military moustache and muscular face. That information gives a sense of sternness and evil. That is how the author used characters to build suspense and maintain it throughout the story.
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