Bullet In The Brain Tobias Wolff Summary

“Bullet in the Brain” is a fictional short story by Tobias Wolff. The story follows the last moments of Anders, a visceral book critic, in the bank. Anders’ character is identified as a grumpy and cynical man often criticizing and mocking others. The story shows Anders in a bank robbery; after an altercation with one of the robbers, Anders is shot. After he is shot he flashes back to his childhood recalling the moments of his innocence playing baseball. "Inferring character from texts: Attribution theory and foregrounding theory" by Culpeper is used to “Infer information about characters from a text."(Culpeper 335). Culpeper breaks down inferences into two major theories attribution theory and foregrounding theory. Attribution theory which

Tobias Wolff uses the development of the character Anders to show the complexity of everyday people. Often, we try see people as good and bad, Wolff through Anders aims to show the complexity of people. Tobias Wolff uses this to show the depth of people and their background to evoke empathy and situational understanding. Wolff could be trying conveying that not everyone is as they appear, and people are a product of their circumstances. Wolff aims to create a greater understanding of people through his short stories. From the beginning of the story where Anders is thought to be a criticizing and vile man by his actions of displacing his anger, to the moments where he is so self-important the bank robbery is used to make a point. Wolff continues to show Anders as a mocking and critical individual even once confronted by the bank robbers. Anders further involves the interpretation of the character Anders by showing the innocent boy he used to be along with the traumatic experiences he went through in life. All these components were used to further influence the understanding of Anders and influence the idea of Anders his