The Hunter in the SnowTobias WolfIntroduction"Hunters in the Snow" is a story that begins with a fairly prosaic opening and veers slowly into the surreal. I found this story really interesting and hauntingly inhuman. The thing I like about this writers characters is how they can seem like normal, reasonable people one minute and madmen the next. In this story a majority of the action for the reader to follow is in the dialog and much of the characters are developed on this basis. The story is often thought to be inspired by the painting of the same title made by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565. What the author says about the story is this: I began this story as an act of recognition of the violence I grew up with, and that dominated my life for some years. By design it was to be a dark, sober piece, but it got away from me and made me laugh.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Cheng, Terrence. "Interview with Tobias Wolff" Crazyhorse 52 (1997):116-124.]

BodyPlotExposition: Three friends, Frank, Kenny, and Tub, have arranged to go hunting together -- something they apparently do habitually.Initial incident: Tub was anxiously waiting at the front of his house to be picked up by his friends when suddenly Kenny nearly hits him with the truck and claims he was just fooling around.Rising Action:Frank sees the deer tracks on a private property so they went and go ahead ask the property owner permission to go hunting on the property. On the way back to the deer tracks Kenny began shooting thefencepost, a tree, and a barking dog just because they're there.Climax: Tub shots Kenny in the stomachFalling Action:They plan to take Kenny to the hospital which is 50 miles away but get sidetracked in a tavern and a roadhouse all the while Kenny was in the car cold and bleeding.Conclusion:Kenny wants to go to the hospital and they think theyre heading to it, but theyve taken a wrong turn while bonding together.CharactersTubHe is somehow the protagonist of this short story. At the onset, the readers are urge to sympathize to Tub wherein he was constantly picked on by Kenny, with Frank often joining in. He was obese which upon finding out more about Tub we realize that this name really fits him perfectly because he is tubby. KennyKenny, who we are introduced to as a sarcastic character who is usually making jokes is the one who eventually is doomed as the other two characters spill their imperfections to one another as he suffers in the back of the cab of the truck as would a hunted deer.FrankAs his name suggest, he is the most "frank" character in the story. He has an affair with a fifteen year old. His character is interesting because of his the one who is intuitive to nature and becomes the driver and coordinator of the failed hunting trip.SettingThe story is set in the state of Washington, probably in the authors present. It follows the hunting trip of three friends, married adult men with families, whose mutual relationships are re-examined and redefined as a result of an accident that happens to them. ConflictMan vs. Nature: The entire story, the hunters were battling through the cold, snowy weather. "Tub had been waiting for an hour in the falling snow[footnoteRef:2]"...but it was no warmer and after a time both Frank and Tub were bitten through and Shaking."[footnoteRef:3] [2: Wolff, Tobias. "Hunters in the Snow". 1981. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/huntsnow.html] [3: Wolff, Tobias. Par 13]

Man vs. Himself: Tub gets angry at himself because of how he is overweight and how he tells people that he is on a diet but he really isn't. "'Like when I make a big deal about only having an orange for breakfast and then scarf all the way to work.[footnoteRef:4] [4: Wolff, Tobias. Par 15]

Point of ViewThe point-of-view for "Hunters" in the Snow is third-person limited. Wolff chose this because it added some drama into the story and it gave the characters some mysteriousness at times and at other times some emotion.ThemeThe themes involved in the story are the concept on unintended consequences, the hunting theme and mankind's inclination to conquer nature.One major theme in the story is unintended consequences. The hunting trip becomes a disaster and because of the various factors, hidden truths come out, and a man might die. Each event is preceded by something that foreshadows it, but all the characters are so self-absorbed that they can't see past their own immediate gratification. Even though Kenny has a history of making cruel jokes, his sudden real action of killing the dog makes his joke on Tub seem real, and Tub shoots him. Because of the stress, Frank reveals his affair to Tub, and Tub reveals that he overeats on purpose. Kenny's probably death is a direct, unintended consequence of his constant cruelty to Tub, but he never considers that his jokes could have any real effect until it is too late.In keeping with the hunting theme, the men act according to a natural pecking order. The more physically fit Kenny plays a series of harsh practical jokes on Tub, who is seemingly the weakest member of their trio because of his excessive weight.Lastly, the theme on mankind's inclination to conquer nature. Here the gang tries to catch a deer but fails; Kenny is infuriated with the group's incapability to catch an animal despite all of the technological, reasoning, and tactical advantages humans have they cannot fully conquer nature. The wintry setting itself represents a harmful force that humans cannot control. ConclusionHunters in the Snow is a short story about three men going hunting and the conflict that goes with it. The characters are immersed in an indifferent universe in which the moral signposts have been obliterated, just like the signs on country roads during a winter storm. Such bonds as individuals are able to form under these conditions are necessarily tentative, and they sometimes try to fill this void by consciously adopting the tacit rules of the groups to which they want to belong. It is chilling a reality of bonds among men but it is true and applicable even in the modern society [footnoteRef:5] [5: Analysis of Tobias Wolffs Hunters in the Snow HubPages. HubPages Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.]

The tone in the ending paragraphs gives us a heartwarming yet haunting with knowing that the friendship and camaraderie between Tub and Frank deepens while the afterthought of Kenny dying almost feels normal among them[footnoteRef:6]. It was as if two men went into the woods, killed a deer, and became brothers though it. That is until you put the book down, get a bottle of water out of the fridge, sit down on the bed, and realized some poor guy died cold and betrayed in the back of a crappy pickup truck just like a deer hunted in the forest and brought home in a normal hunting trip. In the last few lines. Kenny says confidently that he's going to the hospital, but Wolff says '...He was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back.' The different turn they had taken is away from being human beings, and toward being no better than animals. [6: Hunters in the Snow. Par. 112]

IndexTobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff (born June 19, 1945) is an American author.[1] He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life (1989) and In Pharaoh's Army. He has also written two novels, including The Barracks Thief, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and an array of short stories[footnoteRef:7]. [7: Homes, A.M. "Tobias Wolff", BOMB Magazine Fall, 1996. Retrieved on [2012-07-24]]

Tobias Wolfe writes short stories, novels, and memoirs. Major subjects of his work include moral choice, commitment to family, and the creation of identity. His work are mostly inspired by his life experiences. was born in Birmingham, Ala. Wolffs parents separated when he was four, and he moved to Florida with his mother. Six years later, they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and then to Seattle, Wash. After Wolffs mother remarried, they moved to a small town several hours north of Seattle. Wolffs step-father was abusive, and, in response, Wolff engaged in rebellious behavior[footnoteRef:8]. [8: Hannah, James. Tobias Wolff: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996.]

BibliographyCheng, Terrence. "Interview with Tobias Wolff" Crazyhorse 52 (1997):116-124.Hannah, James. Tobias Wolff: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996.Homes, A.M. "Tobias Wolff", BOMB Magazine Fall, 1996. Retrieved on [2012-07-24]Wolff, Tobias. "Hunters in the Snow". 1981. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/huntsnow.htmlAnalysis of Tobias Wolffs Hunters in the Snow HubPages. HubPages Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.