The theme of deception in the ‘"Hunters in the Snow?"

The theme of deception in the ‘”Hunters in the Snow?”
Summary
The story “Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff portrays three men that set off on a hunting voyage that unveils their individual personalities. Each of the three men deceives themselves to admit certain actions in their lives. The three characters, Kenny, Frank, and Tub, should first deceive themselves before fooling any other person. The traits the three men exhibit shows their level of maturity and egoism. They are ignorant of how their deceptive quality affects other people. They defend their dishonesty with their weaknesses regarding their ways of life. Their deceptive actions affect the different circumstances they encounter and transform their lives entirely. Tobias represents Kenny as a bully. Kenny keeps on teasing Frank and Tub based on their weaknesses. Kenny is very domineering and wants to be in charge of everything. He is insensitive to other people’s issues, in that, even after being late from picking Tub, he is unapologetic. He ignores Tub’s complaints while in the truck. This paper attempts to examine the theme of deception as exhibited in the story, “Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff through the traits portrayed by the three characters, particularly, Tub.
Theme of Deception
The story’ Hunters in the Snow” is an interesting study that focuses on the trait of egoism. Three great friends, Frank, Kenny, and Tub, are planning to go hunting as usual. As they voyage together, their characters became apparent. Kenny jeers Tub regarding his weight and Frank concerning his illegal relationship with a minor. Frank, on the other hand, Frank is oblivious of his wife and denies about covetousness for young girls. Tub is embarrassed regarding his weight and denies about his greediness. He, however, lies that he is on a diet. When Kenny asks him about his alleged diet after commenting on his weight yet still eating junk foods, Tub responds in deception. He says ‘. “You think I like hard-boiled eggs?”
In this case, Tub’s deception meets conceivable unexpected reactions, as Frank, mockingly asserts that Tub “hasn’t seen his balls in ten years”. Both Frank and Kenny laugh uncontrollably at Tub’s gluttonous problem. Apparently, Tub is ready to do anything to appease his friends and feel accepted despite his predicament. However, he feels intimidated. Furthermore, Tub is willing to reduce the weight and cut his eating behavior possibly because of the uncouth treatment that he gets from his friends. In reaction to the cruel treatment, Tub concedes defeat by denying his condition and yearning for reception in the group. In this case, he pronounces that his glands contribute to his health condition. Both Frank and Kenny laugh mockingly, and in legitimizing his deceit, Tub implies that he is not as heavy as he was a couple of years ago. Tub has a problem of lying to gain acceptance. However, the source of his problem is entirely from emotional intimidation that he gets from Frank and Kenny.
Kenny is insensible about other people’s affairs or issues, and almost his Tub out of his reckless driving, shoots a fencepost and kills a barking dog without a reason. Tub, being the most sensitive character asks Kenny why he shot the dog. Kenny replies that Tub might become the next victim. Tub shoots Kenny before getting hurt. Another instance that indicates deceptiveness is Tub’s anti-combativeness character, or rather his helplessness to retaliate when under emotional pressure. For instance, when Tub inquires why Kenny fired at the dog, Kenny declares openly about his hatred towards Tub. Kenny says, “I hate you”, and Tub unable to tolerate the emotional intimidation fires at Kenny on the waist. Tub acts out of fear because of his inability to retaliate or control his emotions.
Possibly, Tub thought that Frank meant his words by declaring that he would fire at him as he did to the dog. Tub reacted foolishly and childishly rather than confronting Kenny. It appears that Tub subconsciously took advantage of his inherent behavior of avoiding confrontational circumstances. In another instance, Tub reveals his emotional rage when Frank refers to him as a fat moron. Tub responds instantly by asking Frank what he knew about being fat and commands him to stop jeering at him. Contrasting Tub combativeness traits throughout the story, Wolf attempts to illustrate Tub’s nature of averting threatening situations. Indeed, Tub was ready to dodge the situation. Tub’s deceptive and anti- combative character portrays his strong sense of emotionalism and foolishness.
Distinct from his friends, Tub is unlikely to take advantage of opportunities to disparage others. Rather, Tub tries as much as he can to shed off the insults from his friends. However, his sensitivity and emotionalism develops some emotions within him, and he uncontrollably injures Kenny. Although Tub is emotional, he is also weak based on the several occasions he complains. For instance, he says. “I waited an hour.” In another instance, Tub complains that his gland contributes to his weight, and in another scene, Tub claims, that Kenny “made” him shoot him. Similar to Tub, everyone possess some unique traits, therefore, taking advantage of other people’s predicament by jeering at them may contribute to our downfalls.
In conclusion, Tobias Wolfs’ aim of writing this story is to caution people with the behavior of taking advantage of other people’s inferiority. Everyone has some strengths and weaknesses, and when either domineers, some people may suffer, especially those that want to stay in charge.