Hunters in the Snow

I think this story is all about selfishness and self-absorption in the friendship of the characters. The three friends, Tub, Frank, and Kenny, all have issues in their personal lives or flaws that they have to deal with. Tub is overweight because of his eating habits, but blames it on "gland problems". Frank is considering leaving his wife for their family babysitter, who happens to be only fifteen years old. Lastly, Kenny just doesn't care about anything or anyone. This is shown when he nearly hits Tub with his car when he and Frank come to pick Tub up. The plot of this story is so important because it shows shifts in relationships and alliances within the group of three friends. At first, Tub is isolated by Kenny and Frank when they make fun of him and call him fat and dumb. Then, Kenny and Tub come together after Frank is shot when they share their personal problems with each other. They stop to warm up and grab coffee and a bite to eat while Frank is bleeding to death in the freezing cold outside. At the end of the story, the twist comes with the last two sentences. Frank and Tub took a "different" turn. Different and wrong have two completely different meanings when placed in that context, which mean that the two men driving didn't really care what happened to Kenny. The point of the whole story is to show the shift in friendships as well as the overpowering trait of selfishness that each of the three characters is guilty of possessing.