In "How to Talk to a Hunter," the narrator struggles to separate practical intelligence from emotional intelligence. The narrator knows that her "relationship" with this man, the hunter, will ultimately devastate her emotionally, but she doesn't care. She willingly continues the relationship, even if he only uses her for sex. In Pam Houston's short story, "How to Talk to a Hunter," Houston uses tone along with mood, ambiguity, and archetype to convey the theme of a complicated relationship as people often carry baggage from past relationships into subsequent ones. The first way Houston conveys the theme of a complicated relationship is through the use of tone, which actually sets the mood of the story. Tone is a writer's implicit attitude toward the subject and characters of a work. Mood, on the other hand, is a feeling, an emotional state, or a mental disposition. A good example of both literary devices can be found in the line: "But the hunter's house is much warmer than yours, and he'll give you a key, and just like a woman, you'll think it means something" (Houston, 14) . The demeaning tone of this statement implies that women focus too much on a small gesture, such as receiving a man's house key. The woman wants to believe that the key was given to her as a symbol of love, respect and commitment, when, in reality, it was given to her as a means to allow her to easily come and go for sex, which is all the hunter wants . Humor is also strongly felt in this sentence because he is initially happy and thinks that this gesture means something more since this act usually symbolizes the "next big step" in a real relationship. However, when it starts to…middle of paper…it probably stems from the lack of communication between men and women. There was no real communication between the two main characters, which ultimately led to a lack of trust on the part of the female protagonist. Without trust, the end of a relationship is inevitable. The way Houston wrote this story conveyed the theme of a complicated relationship perfectly. Simply by reading this story, people were able to gain great insight into what a healthy relationship should be like, which was not at all what was portrayed in this story. In the end, emotional intelligence triumphed over practical intelligence, and the “relationship” between the hunter and the woman was a disaster from the start. Works Cited Houston, Pam. "Like talking to a hunter." Cowboys are my weakness. Boston: W. W. Norton &, Incorporated, 2005. 14-17. Press.