Comparing Hunter in the Snow by Tobias Wolff and the Lesson by Toni Bambara

¶ … Lesson and "Hunters in the Snow"

Moments of realization are predominant in the short stories, "The Lesson," by Toni Cade Bambara and "Hunters in the Snow," by Tobias Wolff. Both stories reveal an element of human nature by focusing on individuals that we can believe in when they find themselves in difficult situations. As a result, each author illustrates how different individuals can choose to solve their problems when confronted with uncomfortable situations.

For example, in "The Lesson," we watch Sylvia as she tries to deal with the fact that she is poor. Her situation is a positive one, although it causes her discomfort in the beginning. Because she is young, she does not readily understand the lesson that Miss Moore was trying to teach her and the others. For instance, we see Sylvia realize the depth of her poverty as the groups enters the toy store. She says that she "hangs back" and then "felt shame," even though she didn't know why. The feeling continues even after the children are in the store, as Sylvia notices that she is "walkin on tiptoe and hardly touchin the games and puzzles and things" (Bambara). Miss Moore attempts to explain what the children are feeling by explaining how the whites seem to have more power than they blacks, especially when it came to economics. She was trying to get the children to think and wanting them to ask why it had to be that way, but the children couldn't quite grasp the idea. Sylvia knows that Miss Moore is trying to tell them something, as she tells us that Miss Moore always "waits for somebody to say that poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie and don't none of us know what kind of pie she talking about in the first damn place" (Bambara). This inability to relate is also expressed when Rosie Giraffe says, "White folks crazy" (Bambara). Miss Moore attempts to give the children a dose of reality while also providing within them a sense of hope that can do more. Bambara allows us to witness the positive reaction in Sylvia (although Sylvia may not completely grasp the idea) when she says that "ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin" (Bambara).

In "Hunters in the Snow," we observe how three so-called friends treat each other in moments of life and death. This story is chilling because it illustrates the cruel nature of mankind. Each character -- Frank, Tub, and Kenny, have difficulties in dealing with reality. Tub cannot bring himself to face his problem of being overweight, Frank cannot see that he is simply lusting after a teenage girl, and Kenny seems to be unable to feel anything (especially compassion) for anyone. For example, Kenny teases Frank about the babysitter and attacks Tub about being fat. By placing the characters in a situation with extreme weather conditions, Wolff illustrates the fragile nature of the human spirit. This becomes very clear after Kenny is shot and we begin to see the real Frank and Tub, carrying on in a very cavalier manner. For instance, they stop to have coffee while Kenny lies bleeding in the back of the truck. In addition, they stopped at a roadhouse after that and then took the blankets that covered Kenny to warm themselves in the cab of the truck. We realize that Kenny was a problem for Tub and Frank and the shooting serves as the perfect solution. We only get a glimpse of the chilling reality at the end of the story when they "had taken a different turn a long way back" (Wolff). With this statement, Wolff is illustrating a literal wrong turn and the moral wrong turn Frank and Tub chose when they decided to get rid of Kenny.