Fredericks 1

Malayna Fredericks

Kieler

English 9

September 20, 2018

Diary Entry: Rainsford

In the darkness of the night, I lay awake talking to Whitney about hunting the

animals soon. When hunting the animals, I feel a joy of achievement, whereas Whitney

thinks the animals have feelings towards being hunted. Whitney claims that the animals

may only understand one thing, which is fear.

Later through the night, in the midst of the darkness, I had heard three strong

gun shots. With my curiosity, I leaned over the deck railing and had fell overboard into

the salty ocean. The darkness hit me like a moist black-velvet blanket, causing my eyes

to be blinded by the darkness of the night. To save my life, I swam towards the gun

shots, which brought me to a small island. I soon after fell asleep, and by late afternoon,

I woke to a sharper hunger.

I headed into the jungle to find a mansion, and was soon invited by a giant

named Ivan. I then met a man named General Zaroff, and he also enjoyed the game of

hunting. While learning about General Zaroff and his life over dinner, I had truly found

out what was so strange about the man. He was so bored of the perfection of being able

to catch his quarry, that he wanted a hunt that could reason, for a human could reason

just well. I had lost my mind, asking the General if he was truly serious about the game

of hunt towards humans. He was. I soon discovered the General wanted to play the
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game of hunt with me, another well experienced hunter. Ivan the giant gave me hunting

clothes, food, and a knife and I was off.

I had first hid in the trunk of a tree, covering myself with debris so I was harder to

see. General Zaroff had then saw me after I held my breath once he lit his cigarette.

From that point on, I knew that the General was playing with me to save me for another

day. The next day, I made a sharp-tipped tree branch trap that was covered with debris

in a hole. The trap did indeed work, but it caught a tiger instead of General Zaroff

himself.

The last and final day, General Zaroff brought along Ivan and his pack of hounds

to find and kill me, though I set a knife trap that hit Ivan, but not the General. When I

was running from the hounds, there was a cliff that led to the sea, where if I jumped, my

chances of living were slim. With my bravery, I took that chance and jumped into the

blood-warm sea before the General could catch me. I was soon able to swim back

towards the mansion and get back before the General himself did. Once General Zaroff

was about to go to bed, he looked out the window and that’s when I jumped out from

behind him and scared him till he was as white as a cloud. That’s how a true hunter

hunts. I told him he would be the one to sleep with the hounds tonight, and I had the

best sleep of my life.