Ship Trap Island Psychological Analysis

Fear: Being hunted by another human. After falling off a yacht into the ocean and ending up stranded on an island with a human hunter, Rainsford has to try and survive three days while being chased down by an evil murderer called General Zaroff. After hunting all his life, Rainsford won’t ever hunt again because of his emotional and physical experience’s on Ship-Trap Island.
If Rainsford stays on Ship-Trap Island, he will not have to search for food or find shelter. Rainsford knows there is food on the island because he knows there are men on the island with him. Rainsford knows “where there are pistol shots, there are men” and if there is men there is food (Connell 22). When he ends up on the island, Rainsford is clever by knowing there is …show more content…
Rainsford knows what it’s like to be played with, tricked, and teased by another human. During the first of the three days while in the woods Rainsford understands that “the General was playing with him...saving him for another day’s sport!” (Connell 33) Rainsford is now understanding of what it feels like to have people play games with him during the main conflict of being hunted by another human. After having General Zaroff play games with him the first day, by the third day Rainsford was running for his life from the General. Rainsford realized it was “flight now, a desperate, hopeless flight” and there wasn’t much he could do (Connell 34). Rainsford now knows what it feels like to have to run for your life if you want to live. After having games played with him, and having to run for his life, Rainsford knows what it is like to be prey and how terrifying it can be. “Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror” after his experiences with Zaroff (Connell 33). While experiencing being hunted for three days he felt how terrifying it can be which is also a internal conflict of him being terrified. With all the experiences Rainsford has had he understands how animals feel when they are prey. After surviving the three days by the end “he knew now how an animal at bay feels” (Connell 36). After experiencing being hunted he understands how an animal feels when they have to flee a hunter. …show more content…
Rainsford had to dig and make a trap in a short period of time to survive. Rainsford had to dig as fast as he could because “a second’s delay meant death” (Connell 34) In order to survive he made a trap and had to dig a lot and very fast before the evil General Zaroff found and killed him. Rainsford had to be alert while digging the trap or he would have been caught and killed by one of the General’s hounds. After Rainsford was done digging and went to hide he found out the “Burmese tiger pit claimed one of [the General’s] best dogs” (Connell 35). Rainsford had an external conflict between him and the hound in which he had to be alert or he would have been chased down and killed by the hound. After trapping the hound one day, the next day he had to be cautious and make another diversion to distract the General and hounds. “He caught hold of a springy young sapling and to it he fastened his hunting knife, with the blade pointing down the trail” in order to distract the General and his friend Ivan who was holding the hounds (Connell 36). Rainsford was cautious when he was making the diversion to distract the hounds so he wouldn’t get caught and killed. Having to make traps in order to survive and be chased let’s Rainsford understand how it feels to try and stay