Hunters in the Snow - Gregg Dunmire

When the story of "Hunters in the Snow" began, we were first introduced to the character Tub. Sympathy was automatically assigned to him when he started complaining about waiting and almost getting hit by the car his 'friends' were driving. Kenny is assigned jerk status for almost running over Tub, and Frank follows Kenny because he is the strongest. Frank symbiotic relationship with Kenny is shown right away, which makes us, the reader, feel even more sorry for big ole' Tub.

Now, we all are suppose to feel the same toward the characters up until the point when Tub shots Kenny (Oh my God, Tub shot Kenny!). What lead to the shooting was Kenny announcing things he hates then shooting them. He even kills the property owners dog. When he announced he hated Tub, the story did not specify whether jerked back or spun around, just that Tub fired from his waste and struck Kenny in the chest. Frank, being the opportunist that he is, abandons his now weak 'friend' to go with Tub to get some help. When they get to the property owners house, Tub then learns that Kenny was suppose to shoot the dog (so I do not think that there is any proof either way to support a premeditated shooting, not that tub didn't take advantage over the situation).

From then on Tub and Frank slowly lose their humanity as Kenny is finally realizing the worst aspect of it; morality. As Tub and Frank exchange more dialogue between themselves about there major shortcomings and their primal, if not animalistic, characteristics, we lose all earlier sympathy we had for Tub. I personally did not develop any for Frank as it was apparent early on that we was a leech, or a symbiote to the strongest. What really made my stomach turn was when Tub confessed about his eating disorder to Frank. Which in turn caused Tub to literally feed off his 'friend' as he is told to eat a large amount of food drenched in syrup without the aid of a napkin (and lets not forget Kenny who is still bleeding out in the truck). The very basis for society is cleanliness or the desire to be clean, but when that's taken away, whats left?

This story's theme is that people form symbiotic relationships with people that lack actual love, beauty, and charity. Even though applying morals to a story is not what a theme is all about, we as people can still interpret stories and apply them to our lives so that we may learn from them and become better people. Really story could just be a subtle reminder that people should care for other people and their welfare because we should feel morally obligated to. And to never EVER go hunting with people you don't trust. Seriously. Come on!