Characteristics Of A Moose In 'Hunters' By Bill Bryson

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A moose, or an elk, as it is referred to in Europe. A sweet, innocent, and quite a harmless animal, or at least that is how most would describe the characteristics of a moose. How could something with such harmless features and unhostile behavior, be able to provoke the author to have such aggressive impressions and feelings towards the wild creature. Ironic right? In the short essay,”Hunters” from Bill Bryson 's essay collection,” Notes from a Big Country”(1998), the author explains and argues his hatred towards moose in a quite ironic and humorous way. The essay discusses and demonstrates the author 's main issues concerning moose. Bryson already suggests with the opening line, “Hunters will tell you that a moose is a wily and ferocious forest creature. In fact, a moose is a cow drawn by a three-year-old” his dislike towards wild forest creature. The author continues to describe how unintelligent and foolish moose are, but still, shows approval and applauds the moose for being one of the longest-surviving wild animals of North America. The essay might be formed to be funny and comical hence that are main themes of the text, but the author also incorporates minor themes such as animal extinction and over-population which are relatively serious and sincere themes. The text was released in Bryson 's book in 1998 with the intentions to entertain, amuse but also enlighten the reader. The author uses comedic aspects, such as displaying his distaste of moose which is quite