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That Room Tobias Wolff Analysis

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In the short story “That Room” by Tobias Wolff the room and what happens in it represents the realization the narrator has about how he has no control of his life. He wants a better life than the one he is living right now. He thrives for greatness in his life but he can only create that greatness in his mind. “I felt the actuality of a life I knew nothing about yet somehow contrived to want myself: a real life in a real world” (Wolff 269). The narrator in this story can’t really do anything about the life his living at the moment, he only wishes to do so. In the motel room, one moment the guys were having a good time getting drunk, then Miguel takes out a gun. When someone has a gun it usually means they are the dominate one, they have control. …show more content…

When you remember something you usually recollect your thoughts to do so. He needs to gain control of his life, just like he needs to gain control in the room. “And what can you do but what you did back in this awful room…Smile and hope for a change of subject” (270). Just like your life problems you want to forget that they are happening and think of something different. Confronting your problems is a hard and usually, an unwanted thing to do, that is why the room was so dingy and unkempt. “you got swamped by the smell of mildew…The floor so mushy underfoot…the ceiling bowed and stained” (270). You usually don’t want to go in a room that is gross. You also usually don’t want to face your problems; the narrator’s problem was with his lack of control of his life. Entering the room was him realizing he has no control. He is facing the reality that he has no control of his adult life, he is still a kid. “when you daughter drives the car straight into a tree. and if she walks away without a scratch you still feel that dark ceiling close overhead, and know where you are” (270). He is having an epiphany in this room. An epiphany about how he needs to gain control of his life. He needs to take his life by “the reins” and do something

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