Tobias Wolff “Bullet in the Brain” is a short story about a man named Anders, who is a grumpy judgmental book critic who lives in his own little world. He criticizes life events that are occurring right before his eyes, which leads to a fatal incident after two robbers shot him in the head during a bank robbery. Throughout the story Anders is portrayed as a heartless old man who dies while criticizing a cliché. However, as the bullet is piercing through his brain he begins to remember why he fell in love with language in the first place.
Anders has gone through life pushing everybody he cares about away. His judgmental lifestyle consumed him. Before the incident happened, he stood in line judging two women who stood in front of him. Although, the two women were not bothering him in anyway, he found it in himself to complain about them. …show more content…
He was not afraid and stayed true to himself even with his life on the line. He was willing to risk his life over a cliché, and ultimately did. The bullet smashed through Anders’ skull, which helped him remember his most cherished memory. However, Anders did not remember the people in his life. For example, his first love, his wife, his daughter, or his professor named Josephs. He pushed all these important people away from his life. Despite, having all these memories with family and loved ones, he did not think about them. During this part in the story we learn a lot about Anders. He went through life not appreciating the things that matter. Instead, he criticized his wife who, “He also loved before she exhausted him with her predictability, or his daughter, now a sullen professor of economics at Dartmouth.” Even if Anders is a cold man we learn that he is very intelligent. Because of his career, he memorized hundreds of lines from poems he read during his childhood. He dedicated his life to his career and eventually died doing