Preview

Bullet In The Brain Character Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
508 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
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 …show more content…
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

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Carol Dwecks article “Brainology”, she argues that a children’s mindset affect their motivation and academic work through their beliefs in which students are either worried or resilient to challenges. Dweck indicates that students with a fixed mindset are anxious about the amount of intelligence they have and are always threatened by the challenges because they think that their intelligence is fixed and failures affect them badly. In contrast, Dweck talks about growth mindset where intelligence can always be improved through efforts and learning. Dweck says, “They don’t necessarily believe that everyone has the same abilities or that anyone can be smart as Einstein, but they do believe that everyone can improve their abilities”…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Summary – The book starts off with a mass murderer killing a shopkeeper and his family. This murderer is known as “the artist of death”. Not only does he butcher the bodies but he also admires the crime scene after. The lead detective on the case is Sean Ryan. Sean Ryan finds clues that lead to a famous writer named Thomas De Quincey who has written many essays. One essay in particular called “On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts” is an important part of the crime because it mirrors the murders that happened the previous night. Someone obviously is using the essay as an inspiration for the murders. The essay makes…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels against society for different reasons. Chris is independent and demonstrates this throughout his journey. Huck struggles to find an identity which leads him to rebel against society.Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels against society for different reasons. Chris is independent and demonstrates this throughout his journey. Huck struggles to find an identity which leads him to rebel against society.Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels against society for different reasons. Chris is independent and demonstrates this throughout his journey. Huck struggles to find an identity which leads him to rebel against society.Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels against society for different reasons. Chris is independent and demonstrates this throughout his journey. Huck struggles to find an identity which leads him to rebel against society.Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels against society for different reasons. Chris is independent and demonstrates this throughout his journey. Huck struggles to find an identity which leads him to rebel against society.Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels against society for different reasons. Chris is independent and demonstrates this throughout his journey. Huck struggles to find an identity which leads him to rebel against society.Would you consider Chris McCandless and Huck Finn rebels? I believe that both of the characters are rebels. They both are rebels…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Character Analysis

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The city of Chicago was one of the worst places to be at during the 1960’s. No one had good paying jobs. The town alone was run down on the Southside.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    For my third major writing assignment, I focused on the short story “Bullet in The Brain” by Tobias Wolff. In this assignment, I analyzed the story and was able to understand what theme Wolff created and why he portrayed Anders, the main character, a certain way. Anders was first introduced as an unsympathetic character; however, towards the end of the story, the reasons for his behavior become understood. Wolff describes the tragic events that Anders has gone through in order to explain why he acts so cruel. In the beginning, readers have a hard time caring for Anders’ character, but as we soon learn what he has been through, we cannot help but feel sorry for him. Throughout the story, Wolff is able to use many elements that justify Ander’s behavior and create the theme of appreciating life. I chose this…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Your first sight of this is on p. 1“Anders couldn’t get to the bank until just before it closed, so of course the line was endless…” (p.1 l.1). In stead of being glad that he made it to the bank before it closed he focus on the line. This first impression of Anders is confirmed already on l. 3 where is says that Anders never was in a good temper, and known for his way of dispatch almost every book he reviewed as a book critic. What separates Anders from many other pessimists is that he seems not to care about anything. When the bank gets robbed Anders doesn’t get frightened like the rest of the costumers. It seems completely idiotic that he answers the robber back though he holds a gun to his head. Anders is dominant of the situation and he actually makes the robber insecure. “Hey! Bright boy! Did I tell you to talk?” “No Anders said” “Then shut your trap.” “Did you hear that?” Anders said. “Bright boy. Right out of the killers” (p. 2 l. 9) Anders continues to provoke the robber which is what leads him to his death. Whether he has realized this or not is hard to tell from the…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ways of Reading

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Dark Night of the Soul The Dark Night of the Soul by Richard E Miller has been written with a main point always in mind, that reading and writing has very powerful influences people and their imagination but, the act of reading and writing is not being utilized as much in the modern world. Richard has created an essay that proves his point by taking five very different short stories and giving each a twist that helps the reader see the power of reading. As the reader is chronologically going through the essay he or she is given many possible meanings of the essay. The meaning and the relationships that the stories share are not revealed until the last page of the essay. The essay begins with the story of two distraught high scholars named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.In this story Miller really shows us the power of imagination. The feeling of being lonely drove them to the point of becoming violent. The boys went on a rampage. Miller also uses the example of Chris McCandless to further prove his point. McCandless threw away his life and went out on a journey to live by himself in the wilderness because of the stories he read. Miller wants to transmit to us that reading and writing have very powerful influences in people and their imagination, but he believes the power of reading and writing is not being utilized as much in the modern world. Through the examples he presents in the Dark Night of the Soul he tries to show different perspectives of reading and writing so that the reader realizes that both are really powerful realities which can have a big influence in someone’s…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff, Wolff writes a short story regarding a man by the name of Anders. Anders a book critic rushes into a bank right before a closes. As a critic Anders immediately begins to criticize the line, the people and everything in sight. Soon he finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery by two men. Anders with the poor temper he is portrayed to have begins to make remarks on the robber’s plan and script. Anders big mouth and unable to keep comments to himself draws attention to himself by one of the robbers and is told to be quiet or else. The robber tells Anders, “ Fuck with me again, you’re history. Capiche?” (3) Unable to keep his composure with the word Capiche, he laughs and the robber shoots him, From…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The main character in Bullet in the Brain is a middle-aged book critic, who is especially “known for the weary elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed” (1, L 5). You might even call him a grumpy old man, because basically that is what he is – but more about that subject later on.…

    • 1765 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Warrior Brain Case Study

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Henry believed the M.A.O.A gene was the cause of his violent behavior, and believed because of this gene he was unable to control his behavior.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, the plot of these short stories can range drastically; from trickster spiders, to cats wearing boots. However, the elements are all the same throughout. Some of these elements are anthropomorphism, the used of brain over brawn, and the cleverness of the trickster. The trickster tales utilize animal protagonists and gives them human characteristics. In addition, the griots demonstrate the use of “brain over brawn” to add an element of competition between the antagonist and protagonist. Furthermore, the trickster shares their findings to other animals and creatures throughout the land; also known as the helpfulness of the trickster. Trickster tales all reveal these elements throughout the story and still remain a huge part of multiple…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After reviewing the criteria for clinical depression from the DSM V I do not believe my character has depression. Stated in the movie my character suffers from bipolar. Bipolar can have depressive episodes but if there are episodes of mania it cannot be classified as depression.…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet as an anti hero

    • 787 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, can be considered an Anti-hero. An Anti-hero is best described as the protagonist of a story who does not maintain all of the same qualities that a conventional hero would. For example, an Anti-hero can be rude, violent, and motivated only by their own needs, as well as lacking heroic qualities such as courage, nobility, and fortitude. A good Anti-hero will also draw sympathy from the audience/reader, as is the case with Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s overall intentions are mostly good, such as avenging his father by killing Claudius. However, his negative, anti-heroic side also shows up constantly. He is ill mannered at times, and also acts violently on several occasions without showing any signs of remorse.…

    • 787 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An anti-hero possesses qualities that are very different than those of the traditional hero. An anti-hero is not a happy, perfect hero who always does the right thing; however, the anti-hero usually has virtuous intentions. The underground man from Notes From Underground is an exceptional example of an anti-hero. According to Joseph…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After many years of repression and apartheid, the blacks have finally won their rights back. The Immorality Act has been revoked and Nelson Mandela has become president. However, with all these new improvements, some new problems have surfaced. In the new South Africa, if a white person accidentally hurts a black person, it is immediately considered a hate-crime because of all the years with unprovoked acts of violence against innocent black people. An example of one of the situations where a white man accidentally hurts, and in this case kills, a black man is to be found in the short story “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” by Nadine Gordimer. With regards to this short story it is relevant to firstly focus on the main character, secondly on the setting and finally on the theme(s).…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays