Which statement best assesses the relative reliability of the narrator of this selection? a) the narrator is rainsford himself and therefore should be considered reliable. b) the narrator clearly hates rainsford and therefore should be considered unreliable. c) the narrator clearly had no investment or interest in how this conflict is resolved. d) the narrator is not a character in the story and therefore should be considered reliable.

The passage that is missing from the question is "When the general, nursing his bruised shoulder, had gone, Rainsford took up his flight again. It was flight now, a desperate, hopeless flight, that carried him on for some hours. Dusk came, then darkness, and still he pressed on. The ground grew softer under his moccasins; the vegetation grew ranker, denser; insects bit him savagely. Then, as he stepped forward, his foot sank into the ooze. He tried to wrench it back, but the muck sucked viciously at his foot as if it were a giant leech. With a violent effort, he tore his foot loose. He knew where he was now. Death Swamp and its quicksand."

The statement that best assesses the relative reliability of the narrator of this selection is D;  The narrator is not a character in the story and therefore should be considered reliable.

Explanation:

The narrator in the story "The Most Dangerous Game" is not a character, this passage is written, in what is called, a "Third Person (Limited Omniscient) narrative in stories. Since the narrator is showing the thoughts of only Rainsford, that is what is show in the passage. At the end of this story when Rainsfords escapes with his life, that is when we are shown the Zaroff's thoughts of what has transpired.

This story "The Most Dangerous Game" was written, in the year, 1924. The story has been made into radio shows and movies over the years. The story won an O. Henry Award and is still called the best shorty story to ever be written by numerous critics and readers. This story was written by Richard Connell and has also been published under the name "The Hounds of Zaroff."