"The Killing Game"-Hunting for the Truth

Hunting. This very controversial issue that we face today is often both misunderstood and exaggerated by those interested in subjecting their opinions in regards to the issue. I think that hunting is a viable source of finding food, whether it is an enjoyable experience or not. Joy Williams obviously had different thoughts on the topic, voicing her own opinion that, “Hunters make wildlife dead, dead, dead.” It is clear to me that she was very much against all hunting in her essay and didn’t believe there to be any valid, diverse opinions. What I want to know is whether or not Williams actually went hunting for the truth.

After reading “The Killing Game,” I felt like its author hadn’t the slightest understanding of why people actually hunt. According to page 25 of the Practical English Handbook-12th Edition, you are to “Be fair and be sensitive to audiences whose feelings about your subject may differ from your own.”

William Burroughs family plot

[Portrait of Imogene Coca, Mary Lou Williams, and ...

Papio anubis (olive or anubis baboon)

As a huntsman I made sure to ask non-hunters their opinions in regards to the essay. Someone that I interviewed commented, “I think that Williams unjustly stereotyped all hunters as being ‘immoral’ with a lack of consideration toward any other points of view.” Actually, that preceding statement was my own belief that I used as an example to prove just how effortlessly Williams could have created the “opinions” that she used in her paper. The only non-personal, varied “points of views” that I was able to decipher from her essay seemed to be filled with sarcasm. It is preposterous to me that “The Killing Game,” which blatantly states just one serious opinion, could be deemed as extraordinary as this one has been by essay critics.

To be fair, I am going to present both sides of this argument, like Miss Williams neglected...