The "conflict" in the story is not so much between the characters as it is within them. Each of the characters is fundamentally disconnected from their emotions. Frank is seriously considering ending his marriage to run off with a fifteen year old babysitter; Tub is riven with guilt about his eating disorder. Kenny's internal state is more opaque, but he clearly enjoys antagonizing the other two men. As the hunting trip unfolds, the nature of...
The "conflict" in the story is not so much between the characters as it is within them. Each of the characters is fundamentally disconnected from their emotions. Frank is seriously considering ending his marriage to run off with a fifteen year old babysitter; Tub is riven with guilt about his eating disorder. Kenny's internal state is more opaque, but he clearly enjoys antagonizing the other two men. As the hunting trip unfolds, the nature of their friendship is called into question—it is clear that something is bothering these men and it is not the hunting; their inability to communicate with each other is debilitating. Tub's shooting of Kenny—the result of a bizarre sequence in which Kenny names things he hates and then shoots them, including a dog—could have been prevented if Kenny had told the others that he had been given permission to shoot the dog. He seems to not mention this on purpose, as if he meant to provoke Tub.
The final part of the story, in which Tub and Frank emotionally connect while Kenny bleeds out—apparently forgotten—in the bed of the truck, is at best an ambivalent resolution. Perhaps what binds the men together is their mutual lack of self-knowledge and empathy.
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