Antlers In The Halloween Party

Today Halloween is the second most commercialized and profitable holidays in today’s world, where trick or treating, costumes, and decorations all are apart of some of the favorite things we like to think about with Halloween. Although in Rick Bass’s short story Antlers, the story starts with the town’s annual Halloween party, where the traditions they have are a little less traditional. In the story the party itself holds a very symbolic meaning and has many underlying tones throughout the entire story. The importance of the party being specifically for Halloween is crucial to the story, as a lot would change otherwise. The Halloween party in Antlers is a little different to our own ideas and ideals for the festivities. In the town instead …show more content…
As explained before traditionally people would disguise themselves as the dead with masks or costumes. Even currently costumes give a person the ability to become something else for the night, as the town people drink away they become very intouch with the antlers on them. “The antlers feel natural after having been up there for so long” (1). Becoming in touch with the natural beings around them and claiming the area for themselves during this time. The towns people themselves are also living in an area where it’s ok to assume whatever identity you would want, since it is so secluded all the time. “Everyone who’s up here is here because of the silence. It is eternity up here” (1). Rather than just the one night of the party specifically, the town’s people can assume the identity of whoever when coming to live there. On the night of Halloween they become what is most natural to them and important to their area, the animals they hunt, wearing the fruits of their …show more content…
Already pointing out some of the most important correlations to the story and Halloween one of the most important conflicts of the hunters and hunted would not have held the same impact through the story. Halloween after being more modernized and brought to America, the tradition of trick or treating came into appearance and I think that the idea can be applied to the conflict of the hunters and the hunted in “Antlers”. The argument of bow hunting versus rifle hunting I think can be considered to mirror the concepts the short story brings up. In the hunters/mens eyes that bow hunting you have to be sneaky, patient, and have a certain amount of time in order to do it correctly. This side could be considered as the “trick” part, as the opposite could be considered the “treat” as they are hunting still, but it’s viewed as more humane. Though without one, you can’t really have the other and that's also adds onto the argument that happens in the short story, either way the animals are going to die. “Dead’s dead, isn’t it?” (2). The tradition wouldn’t have been formed with one or the other, so they live together in an equilibrium, as the hunters and the hunted