What is the significance of
Zaroff expressing to Rainsford, “I have electricity? We try to be civilized here”?

The significance of  Zaroff expressing to Rainsford, “I have electricity? We try to be civilized here” is to:

Use irony to show Rainsford how barbaric he really is.

According to the given question, we are asked to show the significance of  Zaroff expressing to Rainsford, “I have electricity? We try to be civilized here” and how it impacts the story.

As a result of this, we can see that General Zaroff is a mean man who takes pleasure in hunting humans for sport and when he is talking to Rainsford and tells him that he is being civilized to show that he is indeed cruel and unfair to humans.

WIth this in mind, he tries to act like a civilized man when he really hunts humans for sport, but at the dinner table, he mentioned that he was a civilized person.

Read more about Rainsford here:

link

General Zaroff celebrates barbarism and indulges in gruesome sports by hunting humans.Here he was being ironical when he says that he tried to be civilized because he used light to cause shipwreck and hunt humans , which was inhuman.

Explanation

The above lines are part of an extract taken from "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connel. Its a part of the conversation between Zaroff and Rainsford where they are on the dinner table dining and indulging in some kind of talk. Zaroff according to Rainsford seemed very cosmopolitan and sophisticated by his extraordinary attire where he was wearing garments sewed by famous London tailor. At the same time, Zaroff's reading habits were also extraordinary since he used to read Marcus Eruluis who was known for composing works based on Ethics and Integrity. The real truth and irony about Zaroff's character came to light when he revealed his nasty and barbaric sports where he used to hunt humans just for his whim. He said that was the new type of hunting he had invented just for fun. He used to hunt men whose ship got wrecked on the island. The lines are loaded with irony and hidden vehemence where on the one hand person talks and pretends to be highly sophisticated and ethical but in reality, he is reverse of it. Hunting men for sports and personal whim is the utmost form of barbarism and appalling. He says that he tried to be civilized but there was not an iota of ethics and civility in his practice. This was also apparent by the way Rainsford reacted and repulsed at him.