If there is one theme that could be picked out in this story it would be perseverance. Rainsford is a survivor. After falling out of the yacht he must swim to land - “doggedly he swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength. For a seemingly endless time he fought the sea.” Rainsford is committed to survival; the author described “his determined effort” in hopes to show that Rainsford won’t give up. When faced with the hunt happy general Zarroff, instead of only trying to get away, Rainsford constructs a few traps he learned while hunting animals in hopes of killing Zarroff to end the ‘hunt’ once and for all.
