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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of animals does Zaroff say are better than the people he hunts?

2. For how long does someone have to elude the General in order to win the game?

3. On page 35, Zaroff says that Rainsford's attitude is "like finding a snuffbox in a limousine." What does he mean by this?

4. How does Zaroff obtain his victims?

5. On the morning of the second day of the hunt, what warns Rainsford that Zaroff is approaching?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does General Zaroff react to Rainsford's various traps?

2. Describe General Zaroff's actions when Rainsford is hiding in the tree.

3. What does Zaroff ask Rainsford to promise him he will do if he wins the "game," and what is the result?

4. Explain at least two ways in which the story's title can be understood.

5. How does Zaroff characterize Rainsford's views on hunting human beings?

6. How does Zaroff obtain his victims?

7. How does Rainsford finally escape Zaroff, and why is Zaroff foolish to assume that Rainsford is dead?

8. What does the sentence "He was in a picture with a frame of water, and his operations, clearly, must take place within that frame" mean? (49)

9. What disagreement do Zaroff and Rainsford have about the difference between "hunting" and "murder"?

10. What does Zaroff want to show Rainsford in the cellar and in the library, and what does this tell the reader about him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Connell frequently uses references to specific foods and wines, books, music, and so on as a method of characterizing General Zaroff. What does this tell us about General Zaroff? And why does Connell do it so often--do the references tell the reader separate things about Zaroff, or do they serve another purpose? Write an essay that analyzes the use of these details. Be sure to use textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the story's ending in which you consider this question: Is Rainsford a hypocrite? Think about Rainsford's statements about hunting versus murder and animals versus humans. Are his beliefs consistent or do they seem to be designed to allow him to do something that he suspects might be wrong? How does this question relate to the ending of the story and his choice to seek out and kill Zaroff instead of finding and using Zaroff's boat? Be sure to use textual evidence to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you analyze how Rainsford's attitude toward game animals changes over the course of the story. Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

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