The Theme Of War And Violence In Tobias Wolff's Hunters In The Snow

Veteran’s Day, November 11, is a nationally celebrated holiday for obvious reasons. It is celebrated to thank all veterans that have served the United States in previous and current wars to keep the country safe. Though the topics of war and violence are usually grouped together, it has been shown that war can stand alone without violence, and violence can stand alone without war. Each of these topics have been widely discussed, such as in Tobias Wolff’s short story “Hunters in the Snow,” Stephen Crane’s poem ”War is Kind,” and in Mel Gibson’s recent war drama, Hacksaw Ridge.

Tobias Wolff, the author of the short story “Hunters in the Snow,” has led an accomplished life as an American author and teacher. According to NEA Big Read editors,

Wolff was born on June 19, 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama. Wolff and his mother, Rosemary, lived in Florida, Utah, and Washington state. To escape his mother’s second husband, he won a scholarship to the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He eventually got expelled due to his poor math grades. Wolff enlisted in the Army in 1964, he was then discharged in 1968 and enrolled in Hertford College of Oxford University. He earned his degree in English in 1972. He went onto earn his master’s degree from Stanford University and went on to teach English at Syracuse University from 1980-1997. He then went to and continues to teach at Stanford University. In accordance with NEA Big Read, his writing reflects his own childhood. For example, his memoir “The Duke of Deception” describes his father. It describes his father because his father was a pathological liar and a con artist. Tobias Wolff relates to the thesis because he has an inner war about his childhood with his father and whether or not to listen to him. Tobias Wolff used his experiences with violence early on in life by his father and the violence from the Vietnam War as motivation and reference for his future stories. All in all, Tobias Wolff accomplished great feats in his life, including his short story “Hunters in the Snow.”
The short story “Hunters in the Snow” itself has a plot that proves that war and violence do not need each other.

The story is an excellent example of Zen Buddhism. In saying this, Zen Buddhism was a popular philosophy in the 1970s which meant that karma was in effect (“Hunters in the Snow”: A Product of its Time). Each of the characters in the story is having a war with each other, not necessarily with violence involved. For example, Kenny is constantly insulting other people because he is overly aggressive. “ ‘You ought to see yourself,’ the driver said, ‘He looks just like a beach ball with a hat on doesn’t he? Doesn’t he Frank?’” (Wolff, 167). With Kenny stating this, he is verbally attacking Tub because of Tub’s weight problem. Next, Kenny is shown insulting Frank, creating a war between them. “‘Centered,’ Kenny said. ‘Next thing you’ll be wearing a nightgown, Frank. Selling flowers out at the airport’” (Wolff, 167). Again, it is shown that Kenny likes to put others down for his own amusement to assert his dominance. After that, Kenny insults Frank again, fanning the fire for the war between them. “‘ And you- you’re so busy thinking about that little jailbait of yours you wouldn’t know a deer if you saw one’” (Wolff, 170). When he says this, Kenny is essentially blaming Frank for the lack of deer seen, and is showing his frustration by bringing up an incredibly delicate subject for Frank. Even though, Kenny is most of the ignition for their wars Frank is not innocent either. “Frank breathed out. ‘Stop bitching, Tub. Get centered’” (Wolff, 167). Frank is showing here that he does not care if Tub is comfortable or not. “‘You fat moron,’ Frank said. ‘You aren’t good for diddily’” (Wolff, 172). The story shows here that Frank is insulting Tub with his weight and is being a hypocrite in the process. Though there were many examples of war between the characters, there was also personal wars and also

violence.
Personal wars and violence involved are major points of influence in “Hunters in the Snow.” For example, by constantly insulting other people, Kenny is showing that he has low self esteem and has to put other people down to feel better about himself. Also, his aggression causes him to make careless violent acts. For example, he shoots a tree, a sign, and then a dog. Before each time shooting the object, he says “I hate..,” which eventually costs him dearly. Frank was also at an inner war with himself. He was not happy in his marriage and was in denial about being attracted to a fifteen year- old girl. He is torn in this situation because he states that his wife had treated him so well. Frank did not commit any violence in the story. Tub was at a personal war with himself throughout the entire story. For example, he was in denial about about his weight and constantly being made fun of for it. He states that “it’s a gland issue,” but then later confesses that he “piles it in.” Tub commits violence in the story. “Tub shot from the waist. Kenny jerked backward against the fence and buckled to his knees” (Wolff, 170). When saying this, it means that Tub grew defensive and shot Kenny out of fear and anger. Before it happened, Kenny had shot the tree, sign, and then the dog. He then looked at Tub and said “I hate you.” All in all, every character is guilty of personal wars and it comes back to haunt each of them.
In accordance, author Stephen Crane has also been accredited as a renowned writer.
As the writer of the poem “War is Kind,” Stephen Crane is known as a famous writer who wrote about controversial issues and is the father of American Naturalism. Naturalism is the use of philosophical positions in writing. According to the editors at Poetry Foundation, Crane is “Best known as author of ‘The Red Badge of Courage’” due to the fact that “Stephen Crane’s works show the true horrors of the battlefield.” In saying this, the editors discuss that Crane went into great detail describing battle; though never serving in the army. Even though he never went into war, he did attend two colleges in his lifetime. Crane spent two years at Lafayette College; two years at Syracuse University studying journalism. Crane then moved to New York in the 1890s to pursue a literary career as a freelance writer. As a freelance writer, he lived a Bohemian lifestyle and gained familiarity with poverty and street life. In this experience, he focused his writing on the Bowery, a tenement district in New York City (Biography.com editors). Stephen Crane relates to the topic of war and violence standing alone because he is at a constant war with nationalistic citizens about going to war. All in all, Crane tried to sway people’s opinions on hot issues with his literary works. Stephen Crane’s “War is Kind” is a prime example of him trying to sway people's’ thoughts.
“War is Kind” is a poem that described the horrors and gruesomeness of battle. It used sarcasm and descriptive qualities to further prove that war is not the answer; which was Stephen Crane’s opinion. For example, the title and the first line themselves are incredibly sarcastic. “Do not weep maiden, for war is kind” (Crane, 1). In line 1, Crane is sarcastic in saying that war is kind because it is obviously not. He also means that war will take away anybody that goes into it. Next, he writes “Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky/ And the affrighted steed ran on alone” (Crane, 2-3). Crane is saying in this quote that whoever you cared about in the war, has been inevitably been killed in battle. To go along with examples, Crane writes “Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,/ Raged at his breast, gulped and died,/ Do not weep./ War is kind” (Crane, 13-15). When writing this, Crane means that your father was in poisonous trenches and the gas has killed him. Also, that you should miss your father because he is not coming home. Lastly, Crane further writes “Point for them the virtue of slaughter,/ Make plain to them the excellence of killing/ And a field where a thousand corpses lie” (Crane, 20-22). When saying this, Crane is making it sound like the military is making killing sound fun for the soldiers. This again is Crane’s opinion and is trying to sway whoever is reading. Even though this story has violence as a prevalent force, there is war without violence involved.
“War is Kind” is a violent poem with non-violent tendencies subtly laced in. For example, Stephen Crane fails to mention that some of the soldiers probably did not have a choice whether to join the war or not. It is not their fault for being drug into battle. Also, that the military wants to lose as few men as possible. No military wants to use violence in war, they try to avoid it at all costs. Stephen Crane fails to realize that militaries have actual people running it. They never want to see their own men, or civilians, be killed. While Stephen Crane was an influential author, Mel Gibson is an influential director.
Mel Gibson is a world renowned director and actor who directed the new war motion picture Hacksaw Ridge. According to the Editors at Biography.com, Mel Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York on January 3, 1956. When he was 11 years old, he moved with his family to Australia in order for his brothers to miss the draft for the Vietnam War draft. While in Australia, he attended St. Leo’s Catholic College, an all-boys catholic high school in Sydney. He ended up finishing his high school career at Asquith Boys High School in Asquith, New South Wales, Australia. He was accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art following his graduation from Asquith with no prior experience in acting. After graduating from NIDA, he joined the Southern Australia Theater Company and appeared in classical roles in Oedipus and Henry IV (Biography.com Editors). Later on in his life, he directed and starred in Braveheart, directed The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, and won an Academy Award for directing Hacksaw Ridge. When asked about Hacksaw Ridge, he replied with “And he’d get them, every time, and he would never get touched. And he didn’t have a weapon. That to me is the ultimate superhero. He stuck to his principles, his convictions about not bearing arms, even in the face of terrible persecution” (Deadline Hollywood). Mel Gibson relates to the topic of war and violence not needing each other as separate topics because he has been in a constant inner war about his alcoholism.
Hacksaw Ridge is a war drama that is teaming with non-violent tendencies that relate to war. It is obviously a war related movie, but has more non-violent subjects than one might believe. For example, Desmond Doss refuses to touch a gun, let alone shoot one. Desmond is a Seventh Day Adventist, he refuses to kill a person. One day at his home, his father Thomas Doss and his mother were in a fight and his father pulled a gun on his mom. Desmond wrestled the gun away from his father and nearly shot him in the process. From that day on, he vowed never to touch a gun again. Another way Desmond is non violent while in a war is how he acts while in the barracks with his crew. For example, Smitty Ryker and the rest of Desmond’s team believe Desmond is a coward for not wanting to kill. Instead of retaliating, Desmond ends up showing more bravery than all of them while saving each of their lives on the battlefield. Also, when Smitty Ryker kicks Desmond in the face on the climbing wall, again Desmond does not retaliate. He instead outworks Smitty on the rest of the course and finishes first in the race. Another way that Desmond was in a non violent war was that he had a moral and principal war with his commanding officers. For example, his commanding officers of Sergeant Howell and Captain Glover are constantly trying to get Doss discharged from the Army; even going to the lengths of putting him in a military prison on the day of his wedding. Through all of this though, Desmond still saves them in battle. The last example of war without violence was at home with his father. His father, as well as Desmond, were both at war with themselves and each other over the topic of Desmond enlisting in the military. For example, Tom tells Desmond while at the cemetery “I don’t want to have to come here to see my sons.” Even though he is an abusive father, he still cares about his sons enough that he does not want them in the war. Even with all the non-violent war, there was still many examples of violence.
With a war film, comes violence. Hacksaw Ridge is a definite example of this. For example, Desmond is mugged and beaten up while he was sleeping by member of his team in the barracks. The only thing that stopped them was Smitty yelling at them and turning on the light. Next, the Japanese commanding officers committed violence when they took their own lives rather than being captured by the Americans. This was a cowardly move by the commanding officers; they would rather kill themselves than fight with their own troops. To go along with this, any battle scene in the movie was an example of violence obviously. Another example of violence was when Desmond and his brother Hal were fighting when they were younger. Desmond eventually picked up a brick and hit Hal in the head with it. This may have been violence, but it did not start a war between them. Also, while in the barracks early in his army career, Smitty accuses Desmond of being too good for all of them and slaps Desmond in the face. While this was violence, this still did not start a war between them. Desmond was fantastic at not holding grudges against people and using forgiveness to solve problems.

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