How does Connell uses figurative language in "The Most Dangerous Game" to add richness and create mood in the story?

Connell uses figurative language in the very beginning to
create the mood of suspicion. He does this most effectively with the repetition of the
idea that it is extremely dark, a place wherein we are all
afraid.

He uses simile:

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 It's like moist black
velvet.

To display
personification, Rainsford found himself:

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trying to peer through the dank tropical night
that was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon
the yacht.

Darkness can't
press itself on anything.

Further on, Rainsford finds
himself alone on deck in his own confidence and narration reports of
him:

There was
no sound in the night as Rainsford sat there but the muffled throb of the engine that
drove the yacht swiftly through the darkness, and the swish and ripple of the wash of
the propeller.

You can almost
feel that kind of dark, that which you can't see. I think this repetition demonstrates
another aspect of figurative language: the symbol. Darkness is often a symbol for evil,
and although Whitney said it, Rainsford hasn't experienced it... yet. This brings plot
into play. We are being set up to agree with Rainsford because we like heroes. This is
what makes the story rich: both sides are presented, the evil he is about to encounter
and his ability to overcome evil. The author most effectively presents this possibility
through figurative language.