Hunters in the Snow

In “Hunters in the Snow,” Wolff explores toxic relationships through the aggression, cruelty, deception, and secrets at play between three friends. The cold, snowy setting of the story also reflects the cold, hostile, and oppressive nature of their friendship. From the beginning of the story, their friendship is characterized by exclusion and cruelty. Tub has been waiting for them to arrive “for an hour in the falling snow,” and when they arrive, Kenny mounts the curb and almost runs him over (20). Not only do Kenny and Frank not offer an apology, but they also mock Tub’s weight and dismiss his feelings. Kenny ridicules him, saying, “He looks just like a beach ball with a hat on,” and when Tub is upset about almost being run over, Frank just tells him to “be mellow” (20). While the berating and belittling continue throughout the story, the fickle nature of their friendships can be seen when the power dynamic changes after Kenny is shot. Frank aligns with Tub, leaving Kenny out, only this time the cruelty deepens and puts Kenny’s life at risk. Wolff conveys that friendships based on toxic personality traits and dynamics such as aggression and cruelty are both unfulfilling and dangerous.

While Tub is on the receiving end of much of Kenny’s cruelty, Kenny is also cruel to Frank. Kenny belittles Frank by making fun of how he talks and uses Frank’s affair for two purposes: to exclude Tub and threaten Frank. These friendships are held together by exclusion, belittling, and the threat of betrayal. Wolff suggests that the term “friendship” does not always signify kindness and compassion and that bonds based on antisocial traits are false, fickle, and harmful. The activity they choose to do together—hunting—emphasizes that they are brought together by doing harm, and when they fail to find deer, the aggression between them intensifies. Kenny’s anger reaches its peak when he shoots a fence, a tree, and the farmer’s dog. His deception about the reason for shooting the dog causes Tub to believe Kenny is going to shoot him when Kenny turns and says, “I hate you” (26). The aggression culminates in the climactic moment of the story when Tub shoots Kenny. Kenny and Frank’s alliance against Tub is severed once Kenny is injured, reflecting the fickle nature of their bonds. Wolff reinforces this idea by making Tub and Frank’s allegiance against Kenny crueler and more intense than Kenny and Frank’s union against Tub. While Kenny and Frank ridiculed and ostracized Tub, and watched him struggle through the snow without helping, Kenny is abandoned in the cold in the back of the truck, severely wounded and bleeding, while Frank and Tub warm up and bond in a tavern and then a roadhouse.

Frank and Tub’s treatment of Kenny is cruel, but Frank and Tub’s treatment of one another is just as disturbing. Frank confesses about his affair with 15-year-old Roxanne Brewer and reveals that he is thinking of leaving his wife and children to be with her. Tub supports him, saying, “When you’ve got a friend it means you’ve always got someone on your side, no matter what” (33). Tub also opens up to Frank about his weight, saying, “When I said that about my glands, that wasn’t true. The truth is I just shovel it in” (34). Frank asserts superiority over Tub by buying Tub four plates of pancakes and slathering them in butter and syrup. On the surface, their support of one another seems noble, but this form of loyalty is destructive. Tub’s acceptance of Frank’s affair and Frank’s encouragement of Tub’s unhealthy eating do little to improve the other’s life. Both Frank and Tub enable one another, allowing each to carry on with their self-destructive behavior. Their characters are so damaged that even their attempts at kindness harm others.

Ultimately, Wolff suggests that friendships rooted in aggression, cruelty, enabling, and negligence are dangerous, destructive, and fickle. At the end of “Hunters in the Snow,” it seems Kenny will die, Tub will continue to ruin his health through gluttony, and Frank will abandon his family. These men are not true friends. They are, as the title suggests, merely hunters in the snow.