#12 Hunters in the Snow (Tobias Wolff, 1981)

 Rating: 8.5/10

    Increasing preferences for individualism affected the concept of friendship. In the past, friendships were focused on the superficial aspect. For example, royalties befriended each other for the furtherance of a strong and royal lineage. However, these days, affection and goodwill are more prioritized in friendship rather than a materialistic or physical advantage. A toxic relationship, a friendship that lacks genuine feelings, is the first thing that should be eliminated from life. Tobias Wolff’s short story Hunters in the Snow shows why.

    In the short story, three characters bond over a violent activity that kills innocence for fun: hunting. While three people hang out to hunt, they continue conversations that decrease their value rather than looking out for each other. In this sense, repetitive betrayal and selfish behaviors of characters show exactly how it feels to be in a toxic friend group. Notwithstanding the reality that they were physically intimate with each other, everyone was indifferent and felt isolated from the 'hunting gang.' I liked Tobias Wolff's small details that eventually convey the message that most cruelties derive not from blindness but rather from passively moving on and failing to change the wrong.