Tobias Wolff's Bullet In The Brain

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.

Tobias Wolff’s short story, “That Room” is a very suspenseful story that has the reader on the edge of their seat while reading it. Suspense and excitement is created through the plot and theme of the story which are both developed through four main literary devices. In the story, the narrator is put into what is potentially a life or death situation and it is at this point that he becomes aware that one is never really in full control of his or her own life. Throughout this literary analysis I will discuss the plot and theme of the story in terms of how Wolff uses setting, tone, characterization, and symbolism to enhance both the theme and the plot.

In the novel “Crime and Punishment”, the author, Fyodor Dostoevsky gives the reader a glimpse into the mind of a tormented criminal, by his guilt of a murder. Dostoevsky’s main focal point of the novel doesn’t lie within the crime nor the punishment but within the self-conflicting battle of a man and his guilty conscience. The author portrays tone by mood manipulation and with the use of descriptive diction to better express his perspective in the story, bringing the reader into the mind of the murderer.

Imagine death. What happens in your final moments? Are you going to think about your loved ones or just simply reminisce on one of the happiest moments of your existence? What would be your very final thought to think? The short story, “Bullet in the Brain”, is a very intriguing, well-articulated fictional writing piece that captures what happens in the split second of death through the main character Anders. Written by Tobias Wolff, the story follows a man who finds the cliché in anything and his final thoughts of his life as a bullet is moving through his brain. Saying I enjoyed this story would be the understatement of the century. The short story is purely brilliant and one of the most thought-provoking stories I have read in a while.

In Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson delivers the robust concluding lines, “I’ve seen Steelheart bleed. And i will see him bleed again” (Sanderson 9). These last two brief, seemingly trivial sentences, conceal this whole literary work within them. A young boy has witnessed his father be killed by the very being who was thought to protect them. With this slender feeling of hope essentially crushed from his very being, David, is the only living testimony to know this villain’s weakness. And with this information, he vows to seek retribution. The basis of this story was really compelling to me because of the incorporation of vivid imagery and descriptive figurative language, which allowed me to connect with the characters. Although not being able to completely resonate with this story, I have encountered the feeling of revenge, which was clearly foreseen within this writing and deeply empathetic.

Hamlet is as much a story of emotional conflict, paranoia, and self-doubt as it is one of revenge and tragedy. The protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, is instructed by his slain father’s ghost to enact vengeance upon his uncle Claudius, whose treacherous murder of Hamlet’s father gave way to his rise to power. Overcome by anguish and obligation to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet ultimately commits a number of killings throughout the story. However, we are not to view the character Hamlet as a sick individual, but rather one who has been victimized by his own circumstances.

Throughout unwarranted acts of anger and aggression, Hickock and Smith’s acknowledgement of their insanity, and the delusions and rants they experience directly correlation between their acts of horror and the deep psychosis they became trapped in late in their lives. This psychosis directly relates to why they did the terrible things they did, and why they didn’t think anything of it. This correlation becomes easily seen by allowing the reader to glance deep within the psyche of these two ruthless killers.

Automatically, the reader knows that serious issues are about to be discussed and that the outcome may not be positive. This novel challenges the material ideology discussed above. It does this by bringing the issues to the forefront and reporting on them in a fictitious yet realistic manner. The reader is not led to believe that the ending will be happy, he is supposed to expect the consider the harsh realities of the world throughout the piece.

Meyer, Michael. "Killings." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ninth ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 96-108. Print.

Tobias Wolff uses imagery in his short story “Bullet in the Brain” provides a visual portrait that captures attention. He clarifies in an interview with Sanford University what short stories require, “You want large results from it, and you 're compelled by its very shortness to using all your resources of language, form and understanding” (Schrieberg 1998). He uses language in the story offering instances of imagery to describe the media critic. Anders is portrayed as weary, and elegantly savage in his reviews. In each scene of the story Anders observes and uses biting words to offer his approval or distaste. He uses words to critique events while waiting with the customers at the bank, with the thieves and with the shot starting his recollections. There is a deeper vision into his brain not only with the speeding bullet but incite to words. The use of imagery in the short story provides a distorted image of the character Anders, not the real image of a man with the passion for words and the happiness they create.

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.

“ 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

Just short of four pages, the piece follows the thoughts and feelings of one man, Anders, who cannot stop criticizing even if it means life or death. During a bank robbery that Anders is caught in, he responds to an unoriginal phrase said by a robber, “Did you hear that?...Bright boy. Right out of ‘The Killers,’” (Wolff 74). Anders comments on the cliche of a phrase, mocking the man with a gun without a care. Doing so is suppose to make him seem deranged, outrageous, a preposterous action that any sane person would not do. At first I believed this was suppose to be the selling point of the story. That because this man was so candid and had no filter, this story was suppose to be an amazing literature piece that baffles many. Instead I found Anders to be boring, and his unfiltered rudeness annoying because it had lacked motivation. Ander’s criticized everything for no reason, and his reactions and thoughts seemed to have no depth or motive, which caused me to lose interest in this one dimensional character. But as I completed the narrative and reached the end, the plot began to unravel and the reasoning behind his actions became deeper and more complex.

When analyzing a character and their actions, perspective is an important element to consider. This coincides with point of view, which gives us further context of a character's actions. In Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", murder is a common theme in which the protagonists struggle to overcome the guilt they feel. The protagonists inevitably let their guilty consciences overpower them, leading them to their demise. Looking at these texts critically, focusing our attention on the perspectives of the given texts, gives us a comprehensive understanding of the character's actions.

Have you ever heard the words illusion or mental diseases? That is exactly, what William Faulkner’s portraying in his book The Sound and The Fury. The story personifies all the key elements of insanity among the characters Jason, Quentin and Benjy. This paper will explore how the author depicts different mental illnesses throughout the story by the use of imagery. It will also analyze some of the most memorable characters development from a Freudian perspective.