fandomhigh | Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

Hopefully none of her students had eaten themselves into a candy-coma last night. Mostly because Cindy had no intention of stopping or taking it easy on anyone if they had. "Morning," she said breezily. "So, today's class, we're going to discuss the question of what makes us human. In Richard Connell's short story, The Most Dangerous Game, our protagonist, Rainsford begins the story by explaining to his friend Whitney about the two types of people in the world, the hunters and the huntees. And later, General Zaroff says that animals have nothing other than their legs and their instincts; the true difference between mankind and animals is the ability to reason. Then, of course, Zaroff proceeds to turn Rainsford into nothing more than a particularly dangerous animal and hunt him across the island."

Cindy handed out copies of the short story and then returned to her desk, perching on the edge and looking out at them. "Zaroff finds Rainsford easily that first night--does that mean he is more a human than Rainsford, since he is able to out-fox and out-reason his prey? Does being turned into a huntee somehow lessen Rainsford? This story makes us question just what being a human means--is humanity so simple to encapsulate, as both Rainsford and Zaroff do? Or is there something more to being a human being than the ability to reason. Would you consider either Zaroff or Rainsford to be human--neither of them wince away from killing other living creatures as a game, the only difference is the kind of game they're willing hunt. Is that what it means to be human? Do their actions, including the wanton destruction of life, exclude them from humanity? Or is it a dangerous game to start putting limitations on humanity at all? Let's form groups and discuss the nature of what humanity really is."

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

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