ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -This conversation is an example of foreshadowing the place that Rainsford will soon visit and where Zaroff will trap him. Also, while still on board the yacht, after Whitney has retired for the evening, Rainsford hears gunshots in the distance from where Whitney pointed out the mysterious Ship-Trap Island.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Beginning of the End Whitney tells Rainsford that they are close to a place called ‘Ship-Trap Island. ‘ The name alone sparks the attention of the reader, foreshadowing Rainsford’s negative, and accidental, encounter with the island.

Detailed explanation-3: -Ship-Trap Island symbolizes a similarly uncharted region where the laws governing normal human discourse don’t exist. Here, General Zaroff’s plays out his homicidal whims unchecked, unimpeded, and a world apart from Rainsford’s comfortable life of privilege and ease.

Detailed explanation-4: -Finally, we see verbal irony at the end of the story, when Rainsford replies that he is a hunted animal at bay. In reality, he has become the hunter, awaiting for the perfect time when Zaroff is least expecting an attack.

Detailed explanation-5: -Connell uses an allusion when you meet Zaroff: “Then he sat down, took a drink of brandy from a silver flask, lit a cigarette, and hummed a bit from Madame Butterfly.”