A Bullet In the Brain
Instructor, Elizabeth Hair English 102
June 22, 2014
A Critique of the Critical Character
A Bullet in the Brain, by Tobias Wolff, is a short story published in 1995. The story’s main protagonist Anders, is a book critic by profession but shows that he is also critic of the world around him. Anders happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in this story and finds himself in the middle of a robbery at his local bank. He is ultimately shot in the head by a robber, due to his smug attitude. The story goes on to explore major events in his life, that oddly do not manifest as memories but one seemingly insignificant moment invades his last, dying thoughts. Anders character is an unlikeable fellow, and his disposition makes it difficult for the reader to muster any compassion for him, or to feel concerned about what this dying man’s thoughts might be.
Tobias Wolff’s character, Anders, is so arrogant that it makes him difficult to relate to. The first impression given by Anders is that he is capable of being driven to a “murderous” temper for simply being exposed to the conversation of two women in line in front of him, at the bank for a short period of time. He is also capable of feeling hatred towards a bank teller for closing her station, hatred that he turns on to the woman in front of him for attempting to engage in small talk about their situation. Of course, there will be some readers that will share Anders’ critical attitude but it seems likely that most would be turned off by his contempt for running an every day errand. Most rationale people are probably not driven to hateful thoughts from being subjected to small talk around them. Anders seems to be seeking reasons in life to give him the opportunity to be rude.
The robbers arrive and the reader gets real insight to just how snobbish and foolish Anders is. Not only does he seem more concerned with offending the robbers by making smart aleck remarks about their choice of words, he seems
June 22, 2014
A Critique of the Critical Character
A Bullet in the Brain, by Tobias Wolff, is a short story published in 1995. The story’s main protagonist Anders, is a book critic by profession but shows that he is also critic of the world around him. Anders happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in this story and finds himself in the middle of a robbery at his local bank. He is ultimately shot in the head by a robber, due to his smug attitude. The story goes on to explore major events in his life, that oddly do not manifest as memories but one seemingly insignificant moment invades his last, dying thoughts. Anders character is an unlikeable fellow, and his disposition makes it difficult for the reader to muster any compassion for him, or to feel concerned about what this dying man’s thoughts might be.
Tobias Wolff’s character, Anders, is so arrogant that it makes him difficult to relate to. The first impression given by Anders is that he is capable of being driven to a “murderous” temper for simply being exposed to the conversation of two women in line in front of him, at the bank for a short period of time. He is also capable of feeling hatred towards a bank teller for closing her station, hatred that he turns on to the woman in front of him for attempting to engage in small talk about their situation. Of course, there will be some readers that will share Anders’ critical attitude but it seems likely that most would be turned off by his contempt for running an every day errand. Most rationale people are probably not driven to hateful thoughts from being subjected to small talk around them. Anders seems to be seeking reasons in life to give him the opportunity to be rude.
The robbers arrive and the reader gets real insight to just how snobbish and foolish Anders is. Not only does he seem more concerned with offending the robbers by making smart aleck remarks about their choice of words, he seems