How Is General Zaroff Uncivilized

Many people can either be civilized or uncivilized, depending on how they act and treat other people. In order for someone to be a civilized person they need to be polite and well- mannered. An uncivilized person is one who may not display these traits. Some people are more civilized than others. Different people vary from being civilized and uncivilized not only in everyday life, but also in literature. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is an uncivilized person. General Zaroff is an uncivilized person because of the multiple things that he had done throughout “The Most Dangerous Game”. Though, General Zaroff seemed polite when he was first introduced into the story, he gave off a well-mannered …show more content…
He acted as though he was polite, which is a trait of being civilized. When Rainsford arrived at General Zaroff’s house he met Ivan, the bodyguard. Through Ivan, Rainsford met General Zaroff. General Zaroff made small talk with Rainsford, and gave him compliments over his hunting skills along with offered him some food, a bed, and clothes. When living on an island to yourself most people would not think to offer a new visitor a comfortable bed, clothes, and food among other things. But, General Zaroff did. Along with providing all of these necessities for Rainsford, General Zaroff was able to have conversation with Rainsford, including complementing Rainsford’s work. But, later in the story The General mentioned to Rainsford that he hunts humans, and Rainsford will be the next. This shows that The General made Rainsford believe he was a normal guy that enjoys hunting, but soon let his true colors show and let Rainsford know that he was just doing that to keep him around. A civilized person is polite and well-mannered. Though, The General was polite he was not well-mannered. To be well-mannered is to have or possess good manners, and manners are the normal way people act around others. The normal way to act around others does not include hunting and killing a guest. So, that being said General Zaroff manipulated rainsford to believe he was a civilized person. Though, there are other …show more content…
In a conversation with Rainsford when Zaroff told him he hunts people that happen to come to his island he also said that he traps people on his island, and is able set traps that will cause people to come to his island. On page 226 General Zaroff confesses this. “The general chuckled. ‘They indicate a channel,’ he said, ‘where there's none; giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws. They can crush a ship as easily as I crush this nut.’ He dropped a walnut on the hardwood floor and brought his heel grinding down on it.” General Zaroff told Rainsford that he has traps near his island to knock people off their boats which leaves them with their only option to go onto his island. This way he gets more visitors on his island to hunt. This is evidence he is not a civilized because he purposely makes unfortunate things happen to passer-byers just to get his pleasure in hunting. Again, a civilized person is well mannered, which is to possess good manners which is the normal way people typically act around others. With breaking down the definition like so, it supports the idea that what General Zaroff explains he does is not a normal activity people do. In fact, it is close to the opposite of how people may normally act around each other. A usual way a civilized person would deal with visitors is asking if they need help, and offering help along with hosting the

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