The Hunt By Josephine Donovan

Unlike animals, humans are able to observe past the mere monochromatic vision of survival. We have an impeccable ability to desire more than just living to breed, and breeding only to someday perish. Thus, we gradually brush this canvas with the colours of ethics, control, and knowledge. Whether the colours fade or become prominent through time, this canvas becomes our perception of normality and we allow it to justify our actions; favorable or harmful. We, as well as the narrator in the short story The Hunt by Josephine Donovan represent this. However, because of the narrator’s difference in perception, self-indulgence, and greed for power, the story introduces a feeling of infuriation to the reader. The practice of killing an animal for food, trade or recreational activity has been a fairly permanent and traditional aspect of our history. Even after animal domestication grew, the approach of hunting to supply food was never abandoned. Hence, the idea of an animal’s death is very ordinary. Yet, when the narrator presents the idea of killing another human and hanging their heads on his wall as a trophy, the concept is angering. It allows the readers to pose the question of why we choose to have this double standard. From the birth of our existence, humans have been killing one another. The reasons vary from family feuds, religious disagreement, to territorial gain. Howbeit, no matter the scale of war, there is always an explanation connected to the act; killing for thrill