Much more than a simple horror story. Richard Connell wants us to question the very idea of civilization and what it means to be a civilized human. General Zaroff may have sophisticated conversations, wear formal London-tailored evening clothes, and speak three languages-but he also hunts down other human beings like animals. And that's partly because he doesn't see any difference between humans and animals. (Well, that, and he's a nutso psychopath.) He claims that he doesn't hunt other civilized beings: he hunts the "cast-offs" of the world, as he calls them, "sailors from tramp ships--lassars, blacks, Chinese, whites, mongrels--a thoroughbred horse or hound is worth more than a score of them."