Character Analysis Of The Hunters In The Snow By Tobias Wolff

“The hunters in the Snow” is a short story by Tobias Wolff. The story opens up with an overweight man named Tub. He waits for his friends to come pick him up for over an hour and when they show up Kenny, the driver, plays joke acting like he was going to run him over. Tub complained and Frank, his other friend, told him to relax that it was just a joke. Once Tub was in the car, they drove to the woods to go hunting for deer. Once there the story shows that Kenny and Frank were closer than they were with Tub. As they were hunting, Tub struggled to maneuver over some of the fences; however, neither Frank nor Kenny would help him over. They had been hunting for over two hours and there was no sight of any tracks, so they decided to stop and have …show more content…
Kenny, one of his so called friends, picks on Tub the most. Frank, his other friend, goes along with Kenny and picking on Tub. Along the way the harassment gets worse. There was one point in the story where Kenny is picking on Tub for being overweight that he tells Tub “you haven’t seen your own balls in ten year” (Wolff 162). As the story continues, the picking gets worse till there is finally a breaking point. Kenny jokingly shoots everything he says he hates. Then, Kenny turned to Tub and said he hates him, but Tub reacted and shot Kenny. In Tub’s mind, it was either to get shot or shoot first. Tub didn’t believe it as a joke, and it was no surprise that he didn’t. After all, the mean jokes that Kenny pulled on Tub, it was only reasonable that Tub believed that his life was in danger. Later, he found out that it was just a joke. As Frank and Tub were taking Kenny to the hospital, they became closer friends. After Frank realized that Tub is his real friend he choose Tub over Kenny. At the end, it can be interpreted that Frank finally stands up for Tub and does not take Kenny to the hospital. At the beginning of the story it is told as if Kenny and Frank are closer friends. Frank had trusted Kenny with the secret about the babysitter, but Kenny made a joke of it. As the story progressed Tub was treated poorly by the both of them. "Tub had trouble getting through the fences. Frank and Kenny could have helped him; they could have lifted up on the to wire and stepped on the bottom wire, but they didn 't" (Wolff 616). This shows that they deliberately chose to shun Tub when he needed help. The harassment continued to worsen. After Kenny was shot Frank and Tub became closer as friends. Frank even opened up about the babysitter to tub. Frank said "I guess you think I 'm a bastard" and Tub answered "No, Frank. I don 't think that" (Wolff 168). When Frank told Kenny, Kenny made fun of him. However, when Frank told Tub,