In “Bullet in the Brain,” Tobias Wolff expertly utilizes the underlying banal platitudes that come with an old cliché, watching your life flash before your eyes, in order to craft an engaging and suspenseful story. Furthermore, this reinvention is evident through the plots structure and unexpected twists. Thus, the overarching theme of the story—the perils of continual dissociation and remaining true to oneself—is revealed through the main character’s (Anders) interactions with the larger world. Anders, a seemingly pompous book critic, reviews novels with, “weary, elegant savagery,” but this criticism extends beyond the parameters of literature. Where novels were once the subjects of his critique, the world around him has come to face the same unwavering scorn. By extension, his interactions with people are tinged with unabashed sarcasm. Hence, Anders is deemed to be an unsympathetic and unruly character. However, as the steel barrel of a robber’s gun released a blinding bullet into the mush of his brain, an unexpected revelation is revealed. …show more content…
“They is, they is, they is,” is an echo of these earlier sentiments. This last recollection—in a series of fleeting snapshots—is what Anders experiences before his death. These memories paint an image of a man who was tolerant and compassionate, a stark contrast to the man introduced in the beginning of the story. Anders, instead of clinging to his earlier sentiments, undertook a role that overshadowed the truth of his character. Thus, he developed a deep dissatisfaction with life and harbored contempt for his work. In effect, Anders became increasingly disengaged with the world around him. His disassociation with reality was marked by his unsavory criticism and nonchalance. Therefore, he was unable to fully comprehend the severity of the situation that inevitably led to his rather gruesome
The article begins with Anders waiting in line at a bank. The author uses narrative distance in third-person POV, and right away we are taken into the mind of the main character who is forced to listen to the loud and stupid conversation of two women standing in front of him. A typical situation that would annoy just about anyone, but not to the point that it would put them in a “murderous temper,” such as with Anders. The introduction let the reader know that Anders, may not be mentally stable and couldn’t help but to
Academic colleagues like, David Greenburg, would have been exasperated, part from envy of McCullough’s ability in not only story telling but to sell and he would object to the approach of this book. The colleagues would tear at the lack of compelling rationale for an overused topic, as well as the scene setting, and meager analysis.
In literature of significant standing, no act of violence is perpetrated without reason. For a story to be legitimate in the area of fine literature violence cannot be used in a wanton manner. In John Irving’s modern classic, A Prayer for Owen Meany the audience is faced with multiple scenes of strong violence but violence is never used without reason. All of the violent acts depicted in the novel are totally necessary for the characters and the plot to develop. This plot-required violence can be seen in the novel’s first chapter when Owen accidentally kills John’s mother and in the novel’s last chapter when John relates Owen’s grotesque, while heroic, death to the audience. The violence that is shown in this novel is used in such a calculated manner that it leaves a great impression on the audience.
Everything is criticized at every level in this story, the people by the main character, the main character by the author and even the story by the author as well. The cruel egoistic personality of Anders is definitely identifiable through these different levels of criticism. I will prove that the inner motivation of this behaviour derives from Anders' egoistic personality which sometimes makes him cruel against others, sometimes against himself. Furthermore, I will prove that whenever Anders criticizes somebody or something he actually tries to punish because of the imperfectness of the object. In order to make the referring to the different part of the story easier I divide it into three parts. The first part ends when the robbers appear at the door of the bank, the second ends when one of the robbers shoots at Anders and the left is the third part.
Critics view the books by Pullman and Ransom as examples of literary excellence. In order to evaluate this opinion it is necessary to discuss what aspects critics consider contribute to a good book and how these books illustrate them. The American Library Associate (ALA) uses the term ‘edubrow’ (Kidd, (2009) p158) to mean the middle ground of literature with an educational emphasis. This emphasis is at the centre of the criteria for a good book by increasing the experiences of the reader through varied language, dynamic themes, rounded characterisation with comprehensive plots. The critics favour works that involve the reader in a non-passive manner to gain insights into universal aspects of human existence like love, identity, revenge, sexuality and betrayal.
Edward Bloor takes on a challenge when he attempts to make the reader empathize with people that he had intentionally tried to make the reader dislike earlier in the story. This is a challenge because i...
A unique word choice introduces this essay, causing readers to be misguided. Staples begins by saying “My first victim was a woman…”(383). This choice of words obligated our minds to perceive this man as a criminal who was about to tell us his story. Staples allows himself to be portrayed as such a horrible person because that is exactly what people viewed him as. He uses self-blame as though he has accepted the fact of reality that he was viewed as a criminal and always will be. It seems as though he wanted to mislead us as readers so we would make the same mistake others did. A feeling of great guilt is created for judging this man that we barely knew. In such a simple way, Staples creates an ...
Dubus, Andre. "Killings." Meyer, Michael. In The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 107 - 120.
The reader is put in the middle of a war of nerves and will between two men, one of which we have grown up to learn to hate. This only makes us even more emotional about the topic at hand. For a history book, it was surprisingly understandable and hard to put down. It enlightened me to the complex problems that existed in the most memorable three months this century.
Many people believe Tobias Wolff is considered much of a critic mainly because his childhood was affected by his parent’s separation. Little by little, he started to become like a critic until he went to the army. Furthermore, when he came back he became more pessimistic than critical some might say. His short stories are acknowledged by many readers because of the true meaning of aspirations some people could think they can make out of it. Some say Wolff created a new thinking perspective by creating the short story “Bullet in the Brain”. The reason readers say that is because the story ends up being more profound that they would have thought when they read it from the beginning. It all starts off with a negative person who can’t keep his mouth shut. Then, that very same person is shot in the head having his last memories be
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
The disturbing description of the serial killer is recited without any waver whatsoever away from the intent only to divulge information. The narrator makes no personal comment and expresses no opinion about Howard. After the narrator has given the information to the listener, the narrator leads the train of thought right back to the work environment. The idea of a horrible mass murderer is interrupted by his typing ability. This continued contrast now goes past unstable and borders on psychotic.
When this story is viewed through Sigmund Freud’s “psychoanalytic lens” the novel reveals itself as much more than just another gory war novel. According to Sigmund Freud psychology there are three parts of the mind that control a person’s actions which are the id, ego, and superego. Psychoanalysis states that there are three parts of the human mind, both conscious and subconscious, that control a person’s actions. The Id, ego, and
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 2011. Print.
In the story of “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff you are introduced to a character named Anders. Anders is in line at the bank and you can learn a lot from this character just by the way he acts and thinks around others while he is at the bank. While he is in line a group of bank robbers break into the bank and demand for money. Anders gets ends up getting shot and you read about how his life flashes before his eyes. The paragraphs of 39-40 on pages 1192-1193 in “Bullet in the Brain” explains to you what Anders actually remembers from when he sees his life passing before his eyes. The only thing he remembers is the time he and his neighborhood friends meet to play a game of baseball during the summer. Ander’s memory about the pick up game