Critical Analysis of Hunters in the Snow It only takes so much until people can be pushed to their limits, cornered into a dilemma, and contemplating their actions that could lead to horrible consequences. Many of Tobias Wolff’s works were focused on these such predicaments of human nature. In the short story, “Hunters in the Snow,” Tobias Wolff uses setting and atmosphere to show that when placed in a severe and brutal environment, male camaraderie often leads to violent behavior. Wolff’s choice of setting demonstrates how a hostile, cold environment is a direct expression of how the characters interact with each other. The cold brings out the threatening, rash, and ugly sides of each of the characters in the story. Kenny becomes quickly …show more content…
The tension is prevalent throughout the story, it grows worse towards the end until it finally disperses. The atmosphere in the beginning of the story is bitter, like the snow covering the ground. Kenny and Frank almost run Tub over, scaring him terribly, but they feel no remorse as they laugh and make fun of him along with his weight. "He looks just like a beach ball with a hat on, doesn't he? Doesn't he, Frank?" “You almost ran me down," Tub said. "You could've killed me" (161). When Tub tells them how upset he is about them being late and almost hitting him with their truck they just tell him he hasn’t “done anything but complain since they got there” (161). Again, just brushing off their friend’s feelings, like snow on their shoulders. They continue to be cold until ultimately Kenny’s actions cause him to be shot, and he has a complete change of heart. He finally tries to be the friend he should have been to both Tub and Frank. Even after his sudden change of personality, Tub, and Frank’s freezing actions of stopping at the diner and leaving Kenny chilled and alone in the back of the truck may lead to his death. "I'm going to the hospital," Kenny said. But he was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back” (170). Wolff wrote their carelessness like the indifference of the winter
In the short story “The Hunter” the author Richard Stark introduces Parker, the main character of this book. The main character is a rough man, he’s a criminal, a murderer, and even an escaped convict. He’s described as crude and rugged and though women are frightened by him, they want him. Parker is not the classic criminal, but rather he’s intelligent, hard, and cunning. In this story the author carefully appeals to his audience by making a loathsome criminal into a hero, or rather, an anti-hero. The author, Richard Stark uses ethical appeal to make his audience like Parker through the use of phronesis, arête, altruism and lastly the ethos of his audience.
In the novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote sculpts a plot that leaves the reader with a dark, tingling sensation of suspense despite the reader’s foreknowledge of events. He electrifies the passage using precise imagery, selective perspective/point of view, and cold-blooded foreshadowing.
A skilled hunter sprints desperately through the woods, realizing the futility of hiding from his greatest foe: his own kind. Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is the story of a hunter that becomes the hunted. The story explores the sense of extreme terror the protagonist feels being pursued by a psychopath living on a mysterious island. This protagonist, Rainsford, has many traits that aid him in his battle with the general. By demonstrating his cunning, sly, and remorseful traits, Rainsford shows the story’s theme of “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”.
Characters: The main character in The Sign of the Beaver is Matt. Matt’s character traits are responsibility, brave, sense of humor, respectful, smart, and curious. Attean is another main character and his character traits are responsibly, brave, serious, bold, mysterious, smart, resourceful, and light on his feet. Saknis is another character; his character traits are kindness, trustworthiness, fair, respectful, and brave. Next is Attean’s grandmother. His grandmother was stubborn, strict, hateful and prejudice, she hated white people. The final character is Matt’s father his character traits are to be loving, caring, honest, and faithful.
As a member and supporter of the earth’s weak little peacekeepers (small humans with loud voices), I can say that despite Rick Bass’s honorable honesty, I found “Why I Hunt: A Predator’s Mediation” to be a threat to womankind. Not all women are vulnerable, but with weapons the hunter can make most anyone his prey. There are predators in the United States who hunt women the way Bass hunts elk. If Bass’s non-human targets are replaced with women and children, the essay has quite a different effect on the reader, though the arguments don’t change. When Bass describes his love of “sitting in some leaves, completely hidden and motionless—waiting, and waiting” (63), I picture him waiting in a park for an unattended child or an unaccompanied woman. My concerns about Bass’s instincts aren’t neurotic. I’m a loving woman who occasionally hugs trees and wants to feel safe in the world—not a card carrying member of PITA.
The Hunting Ground is a documentary written and directed by Kirby Dick. The film follows the journey of two sexual assault survivors, Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, as they file a Title IX lawsuit against University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for not properly supporting them. Although released in March of 2015, the documentary features cases and personal narratives from survivors dating back to 2011. Pino and Clark also provide testimonials from other real survivors, both college-aged men and women, in order to depict the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. The film also provides insight and statistics from various educated professionals, such as university deans, researchers, and writers. The demographics of the sexual assault
The play begins with a grand celebration, in which the characters toast to the New Year. Agnes admits that she feels relatively safe living at Berlin at this time, and the group decides to make up a story together. They story is of a cold night and a watchman who tries to beat nature by fighting back and arming himself with a warm coat and scarf. At first he succeeds, but later finds that even his coat and scarf are
As Jack and his family start trudging through the long winter in the hotel it becomes apparent that Jack starts to develop “cabin fever.” His writer’s block causes anxiety and anger towards his wife and son. Jack also starts to develop an obsessive compulsive behavior pers...
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Rainsford and Zaroff share similar mentalities about hunting, but have vastly different view on the world and the values of human life that ultimately leads Rainsford to make the choice to kill Zaroff for the greater good. One of the major differences are their morals. Rainsford values human life and thinks it is wrong to hunt a man. As Rainsford and Zaroff meet, they seem a lot alike, but as the relationship between Zaroff and Rainsford evolves, it becomes increasingly clear how different they truly are. An example of this is when Zaroff proposes that the go hunting together for humans and Rainsford replies: “what you speak of is murder!”(8).
Wolff builds up the story on the platform of cold weather and the impact of the cold on each character slowly builds up. Kenny and Frank walk on one side of the creek and Tub walks on the other bank. All the way on their hunting path they had problems with the snow, especially Tub, who tends to swim in the deep snow, sometimes breaking through the hard crust that supports the lighter weight of the two other men. The frozen crust collapses under his weight, therefore he soon stops looking for traces and only tries to keep up with his friends (51). Their hunt was unsuccessful, they find no sign of deer and start returning to the trail that Tub has broken.
Before going to Alaska, Chris McCandless had failed to communicate with his family while on his journey; I believe this was Chris’s biggest mistake. Chris spent time with people in different parts of the nation while hitchhiking, most of them whom figured out that McCandless kept a part of him “hidden”. In chapter three, it was stated that Chris stayed with a man named Wayne Westerberg in South Dakota. Although Westerberg was not seen too often throughout the story, nevertheless he was an important character. Introducing himself as Alex, McCandless was in Westerberg’s company for quite some time: sometimes for a few days, other times for several weeks. Westerberg first realized the truth about Chris when he discovered his tax papers, which stated that “McCandless’s real name was Chris, not Alex.” Wayne further on claims that it was obvious that “something wasn’t right between him and his family” (Krakauer 18). Further in the book, Westerberg concluded with the fact that Chris had not spoken to his family “for all that time, treating them like dirt” (Krakauer 64). Westerberg concluded with the fact that during the time he spent with Chris, McCandless neither mentioned his
...mselves at her.... Roger ran around the heap... Jack was on top of the sow stabbing downwards with his knife.... The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her” (135). Indeed, the gruesome description is reserved for Jack and Roger; however, it is clear that all the hunters are vehemently piled on top of the sow as they are killing it with ubiquitous violence. In short, humans are elementally violent and Golding expresses this with vivid descriptions of the boys' vigour in several violent situations.
I think that Chris is a very motivated person. He knows what he wants and he is willing to do anything to get there. This quote describes when Gallien was trying to persuade Chris not to go through with his hitchhiking plan, “But he wouldn’t give an inch. He had an answer for everything I threw at him” (Krakauer 7). This quote shows the depth of his motivated character because of his unwillingness to change his mind. Additionally, I also think that Chris has a very optimistic character and outlook on life. Chris is not willing to totally accept the danger of what he is about to do because he is quick to hope for the best. Proof of this character trait can be found in the following quote, “‘I’m absolutely positive… I won’t run into anything I can’t deal with on my own’” (Krakauer 7).
As the story, Hunters in the Snow, progresses, the egotistical behaviors of the characters become even more apparent given the lack of sympathy when Kenny is gravely injured. Both Tub and Frank, for example, do not react as most friends would; as moral and compassionate friends would. Surprisingly, Tub, the individual who shoots Kenny in self-defense, shows neither guilt nor regret for his action as he watches his hunting companion collapse in pain. Tub as well as Frank pays no heed to Kenny’s distress as he lies in excruciating pain; basically, neither man shows a degree of remorse for their friend’s pain. For instance, both men are in no rush to transport Kenny to the hospital since they decide to stop at a tavern to get warm and leave Kenny in the truck in utter anguish.
The short story Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff depicts three men that go on a hunting trip that changes the course of their lives. Each character lies to himself to accept his actions in his life. Kenny, Frank, and Tub need to successfully fool themselves before they can deceive anyone else. Each of the men are immature and selfish. They don't realize how their decisions impact other people's lives. They justify their lies with their own insecurities about their lifestyles. Their lies impact the situations they encounter and change their lives forever.