The goal of this essay is to explore the short story by comparing and contrasting various elements of this type of fiction. To achieve this purpose, the essay focuses on the following two short stories: “The Destructors” by Graham Greene, and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. Set in the 1950s in war-torn London, Greene’s short novel follows the story of a gang of teen-agers who are planning to destroy an old building that stands in the middle of a neighborhood that was reduced into rubble during WWII. The pointlessness of this violent and destructive act highlights the brooding evil that lurks in the heart of humans, even in innocent boys who manifest unprovoked violence and destructiveness. On the other hand, Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is a thrilling narrative of how an accomplished professional hunter is turned into the hunted after being stranded in an isolated island in the Caribbean. This essay considers two aspects of these two short stories for the purpose of comparing and contrasting them. First, the conflicts that give life and underpin the stories are looked into and compared; second, the element of characterization as illustrated in these stories is examined. Greene’s short story is a brooding and thought-provoking narrative whose power as a literary fiction is driven by psychosocial factors, while Connell’s is a fast-paced thriller whose life is dependent upon the pitted skills, wits and abilities of its contending main characters. .
