Sanger Rainsford does not believe that animals feel anything when they are hunted because they have no "understanding." Rainsford is on a yacht on his way to hunt jaguar in the Amazon when he has a discussion about this with the ship's captain, Whitney. Whitney is certain the animals understand the fear of pain and death, at least, as they are being hunted. Rainsford quickly dismisses Whitney's view, calling him a philosopher for thinking this way.
"Nonsense," laughed Rainsford. "This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters."
Obviously the primary external conflict in this story is between Rainsford and General Zaroff, who has decided to make Rainsford his prey in a challenging hunt. Literally, Rainsford must fight to save his life, and that is certainly an external conflict for him. The inner conflicts caused by Zaroff hunting him are several. First, Zaroff graciously gives Rainsford the choice between being hunted and being tortured by the formidable Cossack, Ivan. Though it does not seem like much of a choice, it is still a choice--and that is exactly what an internal conflict is, having to make a choice.
A second choice/conflict is more implied that explicit: will Rainsford do whatever he has to in order to survive this ordeal of being hunted? While he is certainly going to do whatever he can to save his own life, he must decide if he is willing to kill Zaroff if it means saving his own life. Again, this may not sound like much of a choice, but it is a weighty thing to kill another human being--unless you are the same kind of person as General Zaroff and Ivan, of course. And that is the crux of Rainsford's choice: will he be like them or will he choose something different.
We know what Rainsford chose, but we can assume that he spent his three days of being hunted wondering both how he was going to save himself (another kind of internal conflict) and what he would do if he had to kill Zaroff to stay allive. He was the hunted and he did feel the fear of pain and the fear of death, though he once scoffed at Whitney for believing this. Having to change your mind about something, especially something you were so certain about, is yet another kind of internal conflict.
The external conflict is fairly straightforward. Rainsford is in conflict with Zaroff. Zaroff is hunting Rainsford. eynsford must battle with his wits and skills in order to survive. One of the two internal conflicts deals with Rainsford's will to live. He's in what appears to be a fairly hopeless situation. Zaroff has never lost before, which means that he's a good hunter. Second, Zaroff knows the island quite well, so he has a home field advantage. Third, Zaroff has better tools. He has hunting dogs and an assortment of weapons. Rainsford has next to nothing. Rainsford must internally battle with himself to avoid despair, crippling fear, and thoughts about giving up. The second internal conflict that Rainsford struggles with is the morality of killing another human being. Rainsford is appalled at what Zaroff does. He disagrees on a moral level with hunting humans; however, that is exactly what he has to do to survive. He can either hunt another human, or he can wind up dead like the rest of Zaroff's victims.
