Analysis Of Bullet In The Brain

Many situations can make a man lose his mind, or make him more insane. Between the movie Cool Hand Luke and the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, sanity is questioned. These two pieces of literature also question the jurisdiction and methods that take place in prisons and mental wards. Both stories demonstrate the idea of strength, making your own happiness, and the symbol of fear or punishment.

I chose to write my research paper over Schizophrenia. It is a psychological disorder that I have always found fascinating. It is a serious disorder that consumes a person's life and is nearly impossible to control. In this paper, I will talk about the definition of Schizophrenia, the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia in children, suicide, sexually related characteristics of the disease, sleep disorders caused by the disease, differences in the disease on different ethnicities, and insensitivity to pain.

Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain” is about a man who is a book critic. He recalls his lost a memory of childhood after being shot in the head during a bank robbery. In the beginning of the story, Anders’ personality is revealed as cynical, narcissistic, and pompous. As the story reaches its end, Anders reveals another side of his personality that has been hidden from the beginning of the story. Anders is presented as an unsympathetic character, but the author uses different points of view in the story that makes the audience sympathetic towards him in the end. The author uses different third person perspective, symbolism, and setting to contribute to the theme of the story that a human’s personality changes by time, and environment or experience.

Stephanie Clifford’s A Shot to the Heart tells the story of Peter Forcelli, a Bronx detective that had arrested and convicted Edward Garry, an innocent man. Garry was charged with the robbery of Irene’s New Hope Grocery and the murder of retired NYPD officer Oswald Potter. When the robbery occurred, Potter attempted to stop the robbery when shouting, “I am a police officer” and knocking a suspect to the ground. Later gunshots were heard coming from the grocery store as two suspects fled the scene. Potters was found collapsed in a car with a single gunshot wound to the chest and later was pronounced dead at a hospital. Forcelli the explains that the arrival of a new system called CompStat and the murder of a police officer created an immense pressure to solve the case as quickly as possible. Basing their arrest off two unconfident eyewitnesses who picked Garry out of a line up, without any physical evidence or even a confession. Not long after Forcelli joined the A.T.F. where he soon developed his interest in pursuing wrongful convictions. His new passion had reminded him of Edward Garry’s case and the idea that a man was convicted on such little evidence made him sick. Forcelli then made it his goal to exonerate Garry, an innocent man serving a life sentence. Forcelli then notes the difficulty of freeing an innocent man from his sentence is much more difficult than convicting him in the first place.

Bullet in the Brain is a short story about a sarcastic book critic, who allows his criticism to extend to his everyday life and soon learns why that is not a good idea.

Schizophrenia is a mental ailment in which the person inflicted is taunted by uncontrollable voices heard inside their heads and very vivid, realistic hallucinations. The voices and hallucinations can be benevolent, but they can also be violent. Many cases constitute of people being told by such voices to hurt themselves or others. People who suffer from Schizophrenia are often isolated from society and admitted into psychiatric wards and mental institutions for the majority of their lives. The general public does not understand the torment that these people go through on a day-to-day basis. In order to give readers insight into the mind of a schizophrenic, the poet Jim Stevens uses the depleting condition and turmoil taking place inside

Edgar Allan Poe said “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” Throughout his short stories; “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe sets up his characters to subconsciously reveal their insanity. Often using syntax clues and patterns, Poe shows the madness of the narrators of his short stories. The constant theme of denial of insanity further convinces the reader of the character’s psychosis. Characters themselves often prove they are not in touch with reality through their actions. Through syntax, denial of insanity, and character’s actions, Poe allows his narrators in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” to reveal their own insanity.

Respect seems to be the basis of this theme because without respect there cannot be appreciation. When Anders was a boy, he was able to respect others and the differences they had. However, as he has grown up and has faced many tragic events, Anders no longer remembers “the pleasure of giving respect,” (Wolff 3). Anders has forgotten how to feel respect after doing something he enjoys. He also has forgotten how to respect the people in his life whom he used to love. Since Wolff emphasizes on the fact that Anders no longer remembers what giving respect means, it shows the significance of respect and how lack of respect leads to life with no appreciation. Anders first demonstrates his lack of respect when he expresses his sarcasm towards other people waiting in line at the bank. He criticizes others and believes he is of higher importance which shows his lack of respect and portrays him as detestable and offensive. Anders lack of respect is then demonstrated during the bank robbery. While the other people are faced with fear, Anders seems to think that the whole situation is a joke. He speaks out of place and laughs, not giving he robbers the respect they want. This causes readers to question whether he understands the severity of the situation. Usually when someone perceives a threat, their hearts begin to race; they have shortness of breath; they have nausea…etc. During this situation, Anders

Jim Stevens’ poem “Schizophrenia” displays several examples of figurative language. He uses things such as metaphors and diction, theme and symbolisms, and personification to paint a picture of a house ravished by an invisible war. Stevens uses metaphors to show how fighting can ruin a family and a home. His choice of theme and symbolism adds to the effect of anger and the problems that come with schizophrenia. The use of personification and imagery gives the house human qualities to emphasise that the house can feel pain, just as the family can.

In the short story Bullet in the Brain, Tobias Wolff creates a sarcastically doughty character by the name of Anders. However, it becomes transparent that beneath this stone-cold portrayal of a man resides a troubled past. Throughout the story, Ander’s life struggles slowly begin to show through the cracks, giving the reader insight into what has turned him into such a hateful man. Another interesting character in the story is the man who takes charge of the robbery. He remains unnamed for the entirety of the happenings, and, although he is not alone in committing this crime, plays an important role in framing the theme of Wolff’s work. Wolff uses literary strategies such as imagery and extreme detail to pull the reader into the story, lock in their attention, and relate the symbolism and emotion of what’s happening. These devices have a great effect on the story.

Initially I did not like the main character, sanders, in Tobias Wolff's "Bullet in the Brain". Andrés was somewhat rude in the beginning of the story and seemed very inconsiderate of others. Anders' negative attitude is most prominent when he makes a snarky remark about one of the tellers who is being targeted by one of the robbers. As a reader, Anders' attitude and self-centered behavior caused me to dislike him. However, after Anders is shot, my opinion of him changed. As the bullet travels through his skull, Anders recalls a memory from his childhood in which he and two other boys play baseball. The innocence of Anders' memory caused me to change my opinion of him. The memory recalled by Anders seemed foreign when compared to the way Anders

“ Sometimes you need conflict in order to come up with a solution. Through weakness oftentimes, you can not make the right sort of settlement, so I am aggressive, but I also get things done, and in the end, everybody likes me”( Donald Trump). This quote kind of means that you can not come up with a solution if there are no problems. In literature, so many authors use the literary element conflict to develop their stories. Conflict in the terms of literature is split into three branches, there is Man against Self, Man against Man, Man against Nature. In the short writing “Bullet in the brain”, by Tobias Wolff; the main character Anders faces all three conflicts. Conflicts causes humans to react in other ways depending on how big of

. ." (121). The disease in this case is obviously a severe case of emotions, nervousness among them. Thus, even in the story the narrator realizes that he is overcome by emotions, and as such he must confess the repulsive murder of an unarmed old man.

“These symptoms, especially his disposition to dispute, are manifested not only when he “arose and argued about trifles” but also throughout the narration… Obviously, the prisoner’s captors have named his crime for what it is, the act of an anxiety-ridden madman; this is the argument that the narrator- illustrating another symptom of schizophrenia, lack of insight- rejects as erroneous, impertinent, absurdly false; this is the thesis to which he attempts to provide the antithesis ” (Zimmerman).

“To some extent insanity is a form of conformity; people are always selling the idea that people who have mental illness are suffering. But it’s really not so simple…I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also” (qtd. in “John Forbes Nash”). To many “normal” people, the terms “insanity” or “madness” portray a negative connotation-- the unfortunate ones “suffer” from mental illness. However, brilliant mathematician and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, who has paranoid schizophrenia, cherishes his unique condition as a means of retreat from the brutalities of reality (“John Forbes Nash”). Since ancient times, people have observed the link between madness and creative genius. Indeed, research has proven that the two conditions of