AGENDA:
Hope you are all doing well and staying healthy.
I need to hear from you on Google Classroom and here on the blog!
You can post your writing on Google Classroom. Short Story #2 is needed if we are to run an online workshop with Zoom. There is also another assignment where you can post any new writing (any genre) so that your portfolio grows. This is not the time to stop reading and writing.
Thanks to those of you who have already posted.
Please let me know that you are continuing to work on your portfolios. Instruction is continuing throughout the month of April, and I'd like to give you a specific reading assignment to respond to here on the blog.
READING: Tobias Wolff's "Hunters in the Snow"--a powerful classic short story!
Here is the link:
https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/huntsnow.html
Please respond on the blog to the following questions:
Tobias Wolff
Hunters in the Snow
Questions adapted from Holy Huddle
1. Describe the development of Frank and Tub’s relationship after Kenny is shot. What factors are at play here? Do you find it believable that they leave Kenny in the back of the truck while enjoying the warmth of a roadhouse—twice? Why or why not?
2. Lying is a common theme is Wolff’s stories. Identify places in the story where there’s a disconnect between what the characters think/feel/assert, and the reality of their situations. Are the characters actually lying? Deluding themselves?
3. In what ways are Kenny, Frank, and Tub products of our society?
4. Discuss the three principal characters in this story. How are they motivated? Who is the most sympathtic? What themes are suggested by their interactions?
5. When asked to list his favorite books, writer David Sedaris had this to say about In the Garden of the North American Martyrs: "[Wolff’s] stories are like parables, and after reading one I always vow to become a better person." Assuming that Sedaris subscribes to the dictionary definition of parable, how is "Hunters…" like a parable?
parable
(n): a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle
Let me hear from you soon! I miss you!
1. I think their relationship got better considering they stopped throwing subtle shot's at each other (conversation wise) and I do believe that they left Kenny in the back of the truck because I just get a weird vibe from the story that none of them truly care about the well being of one another, such as how they took forever picking up Tub and weren't that concerned when Kenny was shot.
ReplyDelete2. I think the reality of the situation is weird. I truly believe the reactions to when Kenny was shot were very unrealistic and strange since they didn't seem to think of it as a big deal.
3. i'm gonna be honest i really don't know how to answer this question
4. I think Kenny is the most sympathetic since he didn't really get that mad at Tub for shooting him. The theme suggested by their interactions seems to me like they didn't really want to be doing what they were doing with each other. They were trying to hunt a deer but just kept arguing and throwing shots at one another.
5. this story is somewhat of a parable because in one scene where Frank says "you can't hurry nature. If we're meant to get it, we'll get it." that could inspire someone and change their entire perspective on life and how 'god has a plan for everyone'
Thanks, Isobel! Extra Credit!
Delete1.After Kenny is shot, Frank and Tub are able to bond and open up to each other. Part of the reason for this is because Tub finally snapped when Frank made a fat joke and Frank realized he had been being rude and not listening to Tub’s complaints. Another factor was Kenny’s removal from the situation because he tended to make jokes at Tub’s expense and likely subconsciously pressured Frank to be mean to Tub. I don’t find it believable that they left Kenny at the back of the truck twice because Frank, at least, always seemed to care about Kenny since the beginning of the story, so it’s unlikely that he would have spent all the time he did in the roadhouses with no consideration of the effect the stops would have on Kenny’s survival.
ReplyDelete2.Tub lies when he says he’s maintaining his diet. Frank lies by not telling Tub about the baby sitter and he reveals he has been lying when he hasn’t told his wife about his desires to leave her for a babysitter. Kenny lies by omission by not telling Tub and Frank that the man who owned the farm had asked him to shoot the dog earlier. Tub and Frank lie to themselves when they conclude that the blankets are of no use to Kenny--they could easily wrap him in them to prevent them from blowing off. For the most part the characters are lying to conceal their embarrassing behavior from others in order to not face the negative repercussions of opening up. In one sense this can be seen as the characters deluding themselves because they don’t want to face the consequences of their decisions and are prolonging telling the truth to make themselves feel better.
3. Kenny is the product of the desire to please/relate others with jokes and his demise is the product of social negligence. Frank’s embarrassment/refusal to tell his wife about his desire to be with Roxanne is the product of society’s disapproval of pedophilia and adultery and his willingness to ignore Tub and make jokes about him is because of his desire to seem cool with Kenny. Tub’s obesity is partially due to consumerism and his embarrassment about it is also on account of society’s disgust with the overweight.
4.Kenny is motivated to have a good, entertaining time and please Frank through jokes/pranks. Frank is motivated by his desire to maintain a friendly relationship with both Kenny and Tub and love. Tub is motivated by a desire to be accepted. Frank is both the most and least sympathetic as he initially cares more about Kenny and feels sorry for Tub, but he also ignores Kenny at the end, while supposedly having a much closer relationship to him than Tub. The themes that arise from their interactions are of gluttony, negligence, and sympathy
5.Hunters in the Snow is like a parable because it illustrates the idea that negligence, or allowing something to happen that could be prevented, is morally equivalent to actively causing something to happen.
Thanks, Pahz. Extra credit!
Delete1.Their relationship got better, they were able to communicate with each other. I do find it believable that they left Kenny in the truck, they seem to put themselves first regardless of anyone around them.
ReplyDelete2.When kenny got shot their was a disconnect. They didn't really freak as expected.
4.Kenny is motivated by being able to please others. Frank is motivated by desire to maintain healthy and friendly relationships. Tub is motivated by the desire of wanting to be excepted by people around him.
5. It's like a parable because it illustrates things happening that
are caused by actions of others.
I submitted my answers to the questions on Google classroom!
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