Bullet In The Brain Character Analysis

“Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff is the story of a man named Anders, a book critic, who experiences one final memory after being shot in the head during a bank robbery. Anders, the main character, is presented in most of the story as being a pompous and unsympathetic character. His interactions with the woman in front of him, and his overall critical nature of the world present him as a character who the reader has a hard time caring about. The noticable nonchalant attitude he had towards the bank robbery was an interesting aspect of the story and preludes his rebellious attitude towards the bank robbers. With these initial reactions to the bank robbery, you can begin to see the peculiarness of this character. You wonder if he cares about his own life, if he is even aware of the severity of the situation, or if he even finds these bank robbers to be too predictable in their actions. He critiques them as he would one of the books he reads. He seems unable to censor himself or realize that there is a time and place
He is not even what we might consider an anti-hero. After he is shot in the head, we are told of many past moments in Anders life that lead to where we saw him in the beginning. The author begins to list one thing after the other that he did not see as his final memory, but these things humanize Anders. The reader begins to care for him or at least understand him. It is unusual how the author lets you spend much of the story not liking this character and only near the end of the story reveal some humanizing qualities. His final memory was of a time when he was young and less critical of others. He was able to just enjoy playing with his friends a game of baseball. Reading of this moment completely changes how you feel about his character. The main character, Anders, does not evolve or change much in the story, but the way you view his character does as you read through the