The short story

The short story, “Hunters in the Snow” written by Tobias Wolff, is a tale about male bonding and a hunting trip that turns disastrous because of secrets. There are three characters, Tub, Kenny, and Frank who are not truthful to each other during the course of their friendship. The cold bitterness the three men show one another is the same as the breath of the wind that blows on them, making them cold and brutal. The cold weather reveals the true nature of the three men and how they only care for themselves in the end. This essay will discuss a few ways the setting in the work has influenced the actions of the characters.
The brush of coldness is displayed on one of the men names Tub. A heavy-set man that seems good at heart but at times he’s too soft. Kenny and Frank always bullied Tub, mostly about his weight; Kenny took the most enjoyment out of it. In the beginning of the story Tub is standing by himself on the side of the street waiting for an hour in the snow. When they finally arrived, Tub starts to complain about them being late, Kenny tells him to shut up. Frank jumps in saying that he hasn’t “done anything but complain since they got there (Wolff 161 ),” suggesting to go home and complain to his kids instead. Kenny also loved to make fun of Tub about his weight, saying that “he looked like a beach ball with a hat on (161).” But Tub wouldn’t fight back; instead he would just brush it off with an excuse saying that he doesn’t have an eating disorder, just a gland problem.
Now Kenny, he was the bitter cold one winter one himself, a heart that appeared to be made of ice with a crystal center. Being mean towards Tub was pure enjoyment for Kenny, he loved joking around and teasing the crap out of him. Kenny was a very reckless man in general always taking his jokes too far and that made him dangerous. The man pretended to try running over Tub when they went to pick him up in the beginning of the story! Intentionally, Kenny shoots a farmers dog later on, right between its eyes; he doesn’t even show any concern or sadness for doing it. He then decides to joke around and points his gun at at Tub; he gives off the impression that he’s going to shoot him. Tubs eyes frozen with fear, he reacts without thinking and shoots at Kenny hitting him in the stomach. The cold rushes in as Kennys blood spills coloring the white snow crimson. The tables have turned and the cold begins to set as it spreads throughout his body.
Frank is the same as an iceberg hiding within deep waters, appears one way but changes onced looked at closely. A married man that has a delusional thought of love for a fifteen year old that babysits for him, another way is explaining Franks character is he is a disloyal hypocrite, taking anyone’s side that seemed more dominant. Frank always backed up anything Kenny said when it came to bullying Tub, but changed sides once Tub shot Kenny. Once he started to follow Tub, the two of them started to become very cold and sensitive towards Kenny.
The two of them decide to run to a tavern to get warm, leaving Kenny by himself in the truck bed. Then they decide to completely ignore the fact that kenny is not only outside in the freezing cold, but is bleeding to death! When they finally decide to leave, they notice the blankets on Kenny blew off again and so they take them for themselves. Trying to stay warm from the blistering cold blowing in from the windshield, they bundle up under the blanket and continue driving. In the truck bed, Kenny is “lying with his arms folded over his stomach ( )” completely unaware of the trickery that has taken place. Thinking that they are heading to the hospital straight away, Tub and Frank decided to take a different turn along way back( same)”. Leaving the directions on the table, they were blindly heading in some direction in the blizzard that would get them nowhere.
The cod weather would show anyone’s true nature, even showing the brutality towards another. This coldness was shown in “Hunters in the Snow” and was seen throughout the story. One can only hope that the bitterness across water if it does than everything will be cold. No one would look out for one anyone but themselves, making their world feeling bitter sweet wind blowing in the breeze.