Response to Eric

I don't think Pam Houston is expressing the fact that women in particular are "dumb enough" to stay in an unhealthy relationship. This applies to both men and women. The story represents the fact that love is blinding. Intellectually you might know what's best for you, but be unable to act on it because you are emotionally attached. Women aren't the only ones chained to a relationship, it depends strictly on the person. Furthermore, I don't think that the woman in the story is being manipulated by the hunter because she knows what he is doing. She sees that he has fifteen voicemails and she smells the coyote woman on him. She is completely aware of his "player" actions yet stays with him for her own emotional and sexual needs. The narrator knows the hunter does not deserve her, but if all men are hunters how can she get better? There is no real relationship described in this story, because the hunter does not love the narrator and the narrator does not love the hunter. Both men and women can be blind in certain circumstances; this does not just relate to women.