“Hunters in the Snow” Several individuals consider real friendship to be when one can put a friend’s needs before their own. In Tobias Wolff’s “Hunters in the Snow”, friendship takes a different turn. In today’s society, a worthy friend is extremely hard to find. Friends need to treat each other with compassion, respect, and kindness. Even if one has a friendship, it may not be a good quality one. In this story, these so-called friends constantly belittle each other, conceal secrets from each other, and do not care about each other’s health. It is a toxic relationship for all that is involved. To start with, the characters in this story belittle each other. Kenny says, “He looks just like a beach ball with a hat on, doesn’t he? Doesn’t he, Frank?” (p.80). “You fat moron”, Frank tells Tub, “you aren’t good for diddly” (p.87). These characters are so self-absorbed, that they talk to each other maliciously. A true friend should never talk negatively to another friend. …show more content…
In addition, true friends should never lie to each other.
Tub is not truthful regarding a diet that he claims to be following. He tells Kenny and Frank he has a gland problem. He not only does not have a problem, he devours everything secretively. Frank keeps an affair with his babysitter from Tub and his wife. There are several problems with Frank’s secret. Several married couples consider their spouse to be their best friend. He did not need to have the affair in the first place. However, keeping this secret hurts Tub, Frank’s wife, and the babysitter. Kenny keeps a dangerous secret that the elderly man at the farmhouse asked him to execute his dog. As a result, it backfires, and he is shot. These characters do not seem to understand the importance of
honesty. Finally, friends need to make sure that one another are safe. Kenny and Frank think it is hilarious to constantly drive off and leave Tub. He has to run and jump in the back of the moving truck to catch them. Kenny becomes psychotic and starts shooting at everything. Kenny then says, “I hate that dog” and shoots it between the eyes (p. 84). Tub fears for his life when he points the gun toward him. Therefore, Tub shoots Kenny in the stomach. These slow-witted friends load Kenny in the bed of the truck. They get directions from the couple at the farmhouse and head to the hospital. Now, one would think that the main priority is to get their friend Kenny straight to the hospital. These so-called friends stop not once, but twice to get coffee, warm up, and chat. They leave poor Kenny in the cold as if they have all the time in the world. In addition, when they decide to leave, they forget the directions to the hospital on the table. A true friend would have never made any stops at all to get warm, drink coffee, and leave the directions behind. These characters are not concerned about keeping each other safe. In conclusion, friends should never belittle each other, keep secrets, or put each other in harm’s way. A true friend is hard to come by these days. These three characters in this story chose not to do any of these things. Since they irresponsibly stopped for coffee and lost the directions, it cost Kenny his life. This is a very sad story about the cost of a toxic relationship.
Friendship is a necessity throughout life whether it is during elementary school or during adulthood. Some friendships may last a while and some may last for a year; it depends on the strength of the bond and trust between the two people. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main characters, Gene and Finny, did not have a pure friendship because it was driven by envy and jealousy, they did not feel the same way towards each other and they did not accurately understand each other.
One of the ways Steinbeck shows the importance of friendship is through interactions between characters. In the
Marion Winik’s “What Are Friends For?” expresses the characteristics of friendships and their importance in her existence. Winik begins by stating her theory of how some people can’t contribute as much to a friendship with their characteristic traits, while others can fulfill the friendship. She illustrates the eight friendships she has experienced, categorized as Buddies, Relative Friends, Work Friends, Faraway Friends, Former Friends, Friends You Love to Hate, Hero Friends, and New Friends. In like manner, the friendships that I have experienced agree and contradict with Winik’s categorizations.
Friendship can be debated as both a blessing and a curse; as a necessary part of life to be happy or an unnecessary use of time. Friends can be a source of joy and support, they can be a constant stress and something that brings us down, or anywhere in between. In Book 9 of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses to great lengths what friendship is and how we should go about these relationships. In the short story “Melvin in the Sixth Grade” by Dana Johnson, we see the main character Avery’s struggle to find herself and also find friendship, as well as Melvin’s rejection of the notion that one must have friends.
For the duration of the story, there are several occurrences which exemplify insensitive as well as self-important mind-sets. Kenny, for instance, does not care about others around him; he is exceedingly self-absorbed. In one part, for instance, he jokingly yet dangerously runs Tub off the road with his vehicle. By doing so, Kenny is showing a careless side; a side that is neither concerned about hurting others nor himself. In his view, his entertainment comes before anything else; hence, injuring Tub was never a consideration. In addition, he also mercilessly taunts Tub about his weight when Kenny knows that it is both a touchy and upsetting subject matter for Tub. Frank, too, is also very self-centered since he is willing to leave his wife for their fifteen year old babysitter, who is barely half-way done with high school. The third main character, Tub, is also quite narcissistic because he becomes immensely defensive when it comes to his weight since he allows Kenny’s mock to offend him; therefore, Tub is egotistical given that he is fixated with his image.
Kenny is the bully of the group. He is constantly making fun of Frank and Tub, playing on their insecurities. Kenny is the stereotypical alpha male. He has to be in control. Even the smallest factor, such as driving, has to be done by Kenny. He has to be the one driving. Kenny doesn't care when he's an hour late picking up Tub. He has the audacity to pretend that he is going to hit Tub with his truck. He refuses to listen to Tub's complaints when he gets in the truck and continues on his way. His pompous statements annoy Frank and Tub. "`You ask me how I want to die today,' Kenny said `I'll tell you burn me at the stake'" (Wolff 77). When Kenny threatens to tell Tub Frank's secret, Frank tells him that he is asking for it. Even early on in the trip Kenny is annoying the two men. He snaps when Tub and Frank challenge him. Frank tries to tell him it's not their fault they didn't kill a deer and Kenny is outraged. "`You go with them,' Kenny said. `I came out here to get me a deer, not to listen to a bunch of hippie bullshit. And if it hadn't been for dimples here I would have too... And you, you're too busy thinking about that little jailbait of yours yo...
There are many types of friendships good ones and bad ones. For example in the novela “Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck George and Lennie are the main characters of this novela. George and Lennie face many obstacles throughout their journey. George helped Lennie and lead him throughout this journey. George is a good friend towards Lennie in my opinion because he does so much for him.
This topic shows us that even though it doesn’t always seem likely that a person needs a friend, some people need someone to talk to or someone to help them open up and to be revealed to a whole new life. We should learn by this topic that our friends shouldn’t always be clones of ourselves and we should be listening and helping our friends. Even through the toughest times, through silence, true friendships always last.
True friends are difficult to find in life, especially as an adult. Lennie, a main character in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, was lucky enough to have George, despite all the odds he faced with mental illness. Lennie, having a tall, stocky frame, was intimidating to many people at first glance (Steinbeck 2). However, after they discovered his childlike nature, he quickly became an easy target for ridicule and violence. George sacrifices a normal life to protect Lennie and those he encounters. This relationship is crucial to their survival. The importance of friendship is a major theme found in the book. This is shown through the character’s strong bond between one another, how they face society in the 1930s, and how they influence each other’s actions.
The story Hunters in the Snow written by Tobias Wolff, focuses around three main characters. These three characters are extremely diverse. Although, they all fit into one simple story and, if you analyse each based on his own character base, you will see exactly how diverse they actually are.
“He looks just like a beach ball with a hat on, doesn’t he? Doesn’t he, Frank?”(48). Near the beginning of the story, the cold and the waiting surely creates an impact in the mood of the character. Tub is restless from the wait and the cold adds on to it. He complains about being cold and Kenny and Frank, his friends tell him to stop complaining, which seems to be very unfriendly.
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
Imagine a cold, dark, bleak place where a lifeless setting represents the characters in Hunters in the Snow. These hunter go to the same place every year to hunt, but they never find deer, but deer isn’t what they are really looking for. These selfish and insecure hunters are really hunting for approval from one another. In Tobias Wolff’s Hunters in the Snow, the characters are successful in their hunt for a approval because Frank gets his approval for liking a 15 year old babysitter, Tub gets approval for eating a lot, and Kenny gets his approval of salvation.
Naturally, human beings are social beings and cannot live without friends. Friendship is an essential part of the structure of human existence. Today’s people are seeking and participating in relationships because they believe that it is good to have friends so as to experience pleasure, to be honored, to be healthy, and to prosper in life. Even in the inferior kind of friendships, people cooperate for the common advantage or pleasure. Irrespective of qualifications, career, personal perspectives, cultural differences, and interests, all people seek for love and acknowledgement from others (Curzer, 2012). This means that at a particular time, every individual will seek for a friendship, whether based on utility, pleasure, or even virtuous
Yet Byron is king of the school, so Kenny does not get teased as much as he would if he were not Byron's brother. When he does get teased, though, it is either because of his lazy eye or because he is a bit of a teacher's pet. Because he is so smart, other students call him "Poindexter." Usually, a bully named Larry Dunn is the one who gives him trouble.