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Similes
Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Zaroff's Civility:
Throughout "The Most Dangerous Game," General Zaroff attempts to position himself as a highly civilized person despite the obvious barbarity of his behavior on the island as a hunter and murderer of human beings. This is trait is on full display as he demonstrates his ship-trap mechanism to Rainsford, and the contrast between who he is and who he presents himself to be creates situational irony:
[F]ar out to sea Rainsford saw the flash of lights.
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. “Oh yes,” he said, casually, as if in answer to a question, “I have electricity. We try to be civilized here.”
This is an example of situational irony because Zaroff is presenting his most brutal device for capturing unsuspecting sailors and bringing them to his island—the last thing a reader might expect in this moment is for Zaroff to declare the civilized nature of the island. Yet, even as Zaroff finishes his horrible description, he changes the subject to underscore his own "refinement": at least there is electricity.
Related Themes:
