Tobias Wolff Themes

When emotion overwhelms you, you have two choices; let it eat away at you slowly, each and every day, or attempt to purge it from your memory. Into Thin Air is Jon Krakauer’s way of preventing himself from going insane and parting with his overwhelming emotions. Although I have not first-handedly experienced traumatizing events in the same way Krakauer has, I relate to the want, or need, to dispose of extreme thoughts through art. Contrastingly, I often part with my emotions through vague paintings only I can accurately decipher, while Krakauer parts with his emotions through a twenty one chapter novel in which he gives the readers nearly excessive details about not only his emotions, but also the emotions and hardships of others. While reading

There are many ways to interpret a book, one can read it as a character’s adventure, a conflict of ideas or emotions, or a story. For myself, I read the books, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville, in an ironic sense; and while doing this, I noticed that both books showed an intuitive sense of sociology. Furthermore, what mattered most by reading the books ironically is that it is easy to see the outcome of a situation which is pleasing to be conscious of. It is easy to see the outcome of a situation because when one is paying attention to a character, one’s attention is toward a character, except when one’s attention is on an entire situation, one’s attention is on the flow of events and then the

Tobias Wolff is today known as a highly esteemed American author that has written many short stories ad memoirs, that include This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, and The Night In Question: Stories. He has also inspired many college students to continue on the path of creative writing. Wolff had a rough childhood with his parents being divorced, having an abusive stepfather, a con artist father, and being separated from his brother. In his teenage years Wolff re-connected with his ‘lost’ sibling who inspired him to become a writer (Luke Gerwe). Pete and Donald, the brothers in The Rich Brother, hold some similarities to Tobias Wolff and his brother Geoffrey Wolff. For instance, in the story Pete is successful with a good job, a wife and daughters and money, while on the other hand his brother Donald cannot keep a stable job, is always borrowing from Pete and is trying to save his soul. While Tobias had a hard time getting on his feet with being expelled from high school at nineteen, then joining the army, and then going to university, Geoffrey was attending Princeton University and was writing

myriad of theories regarding the human mind and its inner workings, which have since fallen

Many people consider Tobias Wolff as an outstanding critic due to certain aspects of his childhood, most notably is his parent’s separation. Following the separation, Wolff evolved into more of a critic up until he went into the army. Furthermore, when he returns from his service, some might note that his personality became more pessimistic than critical. His short stories are acknowledged by many readers because of the diverse aspirations some may be led to have through a myriad of interpretations. Truly, Wolff creates a new perspective of thinking through his creation of the short story “Bullet in the Brain.” Many readers find this claim

The short stories “Drown” and “Everyday Use” are able to relate to the reader through the use of human emotions. In the former story, a Latino teenager whose best friend went away to school is torn between staying in his town or leaving. In the latter story, an African-American woman in the 20th century, living in the south, discusses her college-aged daughter becoming a different person. However, in both stories, the characters see their close ones doing better than they

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 something unusual that an average person would not have recalled as their last memory. Although Tobias Wolff lived an unusual lifestyle, he turns out to write one of the best short stories “Bullet in the Brain”, by using irony, imagery, theme, style, and tone all within a few pages; which shows why his childhood affected this writing piece he has created.

In many of the works read in this quarter, there was a deeper meaning to the story that the author would convey to the reader through various morally based or meaningful points and sections. This is most evident in the works of Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, and Tim O’Brien. In all of their works, these writers each leave the reader with an important value and a little more understanding on the complexity of human nature and of life itself. Ranging in levels of subtlety and truth, the message sent is familiar and revealing. One might want to ponder these truths alone, as Ernest Hemingway’s main character does in his story, The Old man and the Sea.

The human brain is a powerful and complex system that controls every individual’s actions. In Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life, the author, Steven Johnson discusses the brain’s role in everyday life. By integrating experiments and personal experiences with the neuroscience of everyday life, Stephen Johnson gives the reader a new understanding of the brain. The book begins with insight into the mind reading abilities humans possess. Johnson explains that humans have an instinctual ability to read the emotions of other people.

Holland calls the pattern of our psychological conflicts and coping strategies our identity theme. According to Holland, we project our daily lives that identity theme onto every situation we encounter, this way we observe everything according to our psychological experience. Therefore, when we read literature we will project our identity theme onto the text. Identity theme can also be used when analyzing an author. For example, according to Holland´s method, when we are analyzing Fitzgerald’s work we should see him as the reader, rather than the writer. This way we can analyze the work from the view of the Fitzgerald’s world, his psychological experience rather than our own. (Tyson, p.183-184). Certain themes in Fitzgerald´s work are reoccurring

What separates the human brain from the human mind? While the workings of the brain contribute to the mind, “the mind consists of the intangible realm of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and consciousness” (Marder). That humans can envision the future separates them from all other species. In the same way, humans are the only species that can look critically at the past and to think about abstract ideas. Thinking on a continuum of time - from backward to forward - sets humans apart and influences societies everywhere and everyday. To be human is to imagine the future as well as to evaluate the past.

While analysing the story, I realized that an autobiographical story was so dexterously knitted in a fiction that it became very difficult to separate non-fiction from fiction. Tim O’Brien had been candid, bold in bringing out the truth of ‘Vietnam war’ and made us realize the plight of the soldiers who fight unwillingly for no substantial reasons. The goal of my analysis was to understand how a literary writing can be made impactful, approachable yet close to reality that conveys a message to the society and people that it is written for. The use of imagery, similes and other literary tools help in evoking thoughts and feelings. I gained the understanding of these tools only after doing critical analysis of fictional and non- fictional work. These analysis help in developing understanding of the tools and also help in understanding how we can use them to create the desired results. While doing an analysis, one needs to understand and analyse the writing style, get into the minds of character and draw inferences too about their prevalent situation and role in fiction or non- fiction. It is not just about summarising what you have read – it is about scrutinizing what you have read and then analysing each and every aspect of that literary work and author’s perspective

Human behavior is tremendously influenced by its environment. If someone is driving in the middle of the storm they might act franticly, whereas if a person is relaxing at home they might act calmly. The actions of characters in short stories also follow this trait. The setting in the story “Outage”, by John Updike, allows the characters to escape “reality” and have an affair, whereas the setting in “To Build a Fire” acts as the antagonist in the story and proves to be a significant obstacle to our protagonist. The effects of the settings are clear in the plot and character interactions.

Throughout life, events occur and mold us. Events that hold many achievements and hardships. Events that causes us to adapt, hopefully, for the better. Events that becomes experiences, which we learn from and evolve into a wiser self. However, these inspiring words and pithy phrases are more suited for those who seek a generic answer. While we have these moments of triumph and success, we also have terrors that reside on the opposite side of the spectrum. Moments of lasting pain and trivial endeavors that leave an imprint on us unlike the moments of joy. It is through man’s isolation and pain that tell us not to talk to strangers or play with fire. Unfortunately, it is difficult to explain the feelings of pain than it is of joy. Franz Kafka explores these feelings. Franz Kafka journeys and displays the complicated genre of alienation and psychological tribulation of mankind in his stories, The Metamorphosis, A Hunger Artist, and The Trial.

Human behavior has been a mystery to scientists and psychologists for years. What causes humans to act the way they do? Is it learned by experience, or inherited from prior generations? The human brain is a complex machine driven by numerous intangibles that influence our thinking process directly and indirectly.