56 pages • 1 hour read
Tobias WolffHunters in the Snow
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1981A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Snow
The heavy snow forms a hostile, cruel, and oppressive environment in “Hunters in the Snow,” which symbolizes the hostility and cruelty between Frank, Kenny, and Tub. Tub, waiting in the falling snow for his friends to arrive, symbolizes the coldness and hostile relationship among the three men. Tub’s struggles to keep “fighting through the snow” (he could hear “his heart and felt the flush on his face”) mirror the difficulty he has navigating his friendships (23). Kenny and Frank choose not to help Tub when he is struggling, thus causing him to get bruises from the crust of the snow. These bruises mirror the emotional bruises inflicted on Tub. Similarly, the cruelty of the snow mirrors Frank and Tub’s cruelty when they twice leave Kenny in the truck to warm themselves. Essentially, the characters’ hearts and behavior are as cold as the snow.
The Truck
The truck is a symbol of the neglect shown by the three characters. The truck’s windshield and heater are broken, yet they choose to use it as transportation. This choice reflects the three men choosing to remain friends despite the neglect between them. The neglect can be seen when Kenny and Frank watch Tub struggle through the snow without helping, when Frank dismisses Tub’s feelings, and when Frank and Tub prioritize their warmth over Kenny’s injury. The neglect Frank and Tub show is likely to result in Kenny’s death, and with Kenny lying in the back of the truck on a board, the truck likely to become his hearse.
Hunting
Hunting is an act of violence toward nature, and it thus symbolizes the aggression and violence the three main characters perpetrate against one another. Their choice to socialize by hunting reflects that their bonds are formed by violence and aggression. Kenny almost runs Tub over at the beginning of the story; Kenny suggests he is going to shoot Tub; Tub shoots Kenny in what he believes to be self-defense; and Tub grabs Frank by the collar. These acts of violence mirror not only the violence involved in hunting but also the violence between wild animals—except the men are worse because they choose to behave this way. None of them track down a deer, and they must leave empty-handed. This outcome reflects the emptiness and hollow nature of the friendships between the three men.
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