56 pages • 1 hour read
Hunters in the Snow
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Character Analysis
Tub
Tub is the protagonist, and his point of view shapes the narrative. As his name suggests, Tub is overweight and slow, and the subject of much ridicule and ostracization from Frank and Kenny. Although Tub is the protagonist and a sympathetic character, he lacks the more admirable traits of courage, drive, leadership, and empathy that are often found in a main character. He lacks the maturity expected of an adult man as well as the confidence to stand up for himself. He accepts the toxic dynamic within the friendship group.
Tub feels shame, not because he is overweight but because he lies to his friends about his overeating. He pretends to be on a diet and blames his weight on a problem with his “glands” rather than admitting to overeating (22). Tub is glum and sulky throughout the hunting trip, but when he believes Kenny is going to shoot him, he shows a capacity for self-preservation by shooting Kenny first. Unlike Kenny, Tub’s actions are not vitriolic but reactive. Though Tub is distressed by his actions, he gains confidence and even takes charge of the situation, suggesting “we’d better call an ambulance” (27). Tub transforms from someone who passively accepts the verbal abuse of his friends to someone who confronts his bully. He later grabs Frank by the collar and backs him against a fence in retaliation for Frank calling him a “fat moron” (29). Frank apologizes, and the dynamic within the friend group shifts. Tub grows neglectful of Kenny’s injuries and becomes selfish as he prioritizes stopping twice on the way to the hospital to warm himself and bond with Frank.
Tub exhibits loyalty to Frank despite Frank’s bullying. When he learns of Frank’s affair, Tub declares that he will always be on Frank’s side because they are friends, doing nothing to intervene in Frank’s destructive behavior. However, Tub can identify with Frank’s double life because Tub has a double life of his own. She admits to Frank that he lied about having a problem with his glands.
Frank
Frank is a married man and father who is having an affair with a 15-year-old babysitter. Frank’s motives are consistently self-serving. He is a fickle character with little to no internal development over the story. At times, Frank is depicted almost as a hippie, saying things like, “You can’t hurry nature. If we’re meant to get that deer, we’ll get it” (24), but he is more opportunistic and capricious than easy-going. He switches loyalties whenever it is convenient or beneficial for him. He joins Kenny in being nasty to Tub, telling him, “You haven’t seen your own balls in ten years” (22), but he switches allegiances when the group’s power dynamic changes.
Frank’s selfishness appears also in his neglect of Kenny’s injuries. He’s more concerned about being cold in the truck and stopping to get warm than he is about getting Kenny to the hospital. He tells Kenny, “If me and Tub don’t get warmed up, we’re going to freeze solid” (31). Frank’s negligent and self-serving nature is likely to lead to Kenny’s death when he takes a wrong turn on the way to the hospital.
Frank’s extramarital affair is a further demonstration of his callous selfishness. He considers leaving his family for the babysitter, abandoning his responsibilities. He has notions of being madly in love with the babysitter, but the narrative suggests that he is experiencing lust rather than love. Frank becomes angry and defensive when Kenny insinuates that he might tell Tub about Frank’s affair. He knows that what he is doing is wrong because he is afraid Tub will think he is a “complete bastard” (33). Frank is aware of the damage he is causing but opts to continue.
Frank’s morals are deeply questionable, and he has a malevolent streak. After Tub admits that his weight problems are due to overeating, Frank buys Tub four orders of pancakes with butter and syrup. Frank watches Tub eat them and gets a perverse satisfaction in enabling Tub’s destructive behavior.
Kenny
Kenny is an archetypal bully antagonist. He and Tub are foils and the antithesis of one another. Unlike Tub, who is passive and weak, Kenny controls the group by being cruel, belittling, demeaning, and berating. He excludes Tub and encourages Frank to do the same. Although Kenny and Frank behave like best friends, their friendship has no authenticity or loyalty. Kenny threatens to tell Tub Frank’s secret about “a certain babysitter” despite being trusted to keep that information to himself (22). He’s sly and wants to be perceived as hateful and violent. For example, he shoots the farmer’s dog in front of Frank and Tub but does not mention that the farmer had asked him to do it. This aggressive behavior backfires when Tub feels threatened by Kenny and shoots him.
The power dynamic between the friends shifts after the shooting. Previously arrogant and in control, Kenny becomes quiet and passive and replaces Tub as the group’s outsider. Wounded, cold, and in pain, Kenny is neglected by his two friends and left in the back of the truck just as Tub was left behind when Kenny drove to the farmhouse. Kenny is at the receiving end of his own personality traits through Tub and has lost the respect of his friends. Tub speaks to Kenny in the same demeaning manner that Kenny had once spoken to him. The narrator says, “Kenny mumbled. Tub bent over him. ‘What? Speak up’” (35). Wounded, cold, and in pain, Kenny is reduced to helplessness, clinging to life as his friends drive him in the wrong direction.
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