"Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff is the account of a man named Anders, a book commentator, who encounters one last memory in the wake of being shot in the head amid a bank theft. Anders, the primary character, is introduced in the greater part of the story just like a self important and unsympathetic character. His cooperations with the lady before him, and his general basic nature of the world present him as a character who the peruser experiences considerable difficulties about. The noticable impassive disposition he had towards the bank burglary was a fascinating part of the story and preludes his insubordinate demeanor towards the bank thieves. With these starting responses to the bank theft, you can start to see the peculiarness of
Everything is criticized at every level in this story, the people by the main character, the main character by the author and even the story by the author as well. The cruel egoistic personality of Anders is definitely identifiable through these different levels of criticism. I will prove that the inner motivation of this behaviour derives from Anders' egoistic personality which sometimes makes him cruel against others, sometimes against himself. Furthermore, I will prove that whenever Anders criticizes somebody or something he actually tries to punish because of the imperfectness of the object. In order to make the referring to the different part of the story easier I divide it into three parts. The first part ends when the robbers appear at the door of the bank, the second ends when one of the robbers shoots at Anders and the left is the third part.
Dick Hickock stood motionless, watching as his companion, Perry Smith fired his shotgun into the heads of each member of the Clutter family, sending blood and brains splashing against the wall. What would drive a man to do this? With a cold-blooded fire in his eyes, Perry moved from one person to the next, splattering the country house with brain matter. This terrible
In short story, "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff, we are introduced to the protagonist of the story, Anders. He is a book critic and immediately unlikable. Anders is rude to the bank teller and everyone around him. When the bank is robbed by two masked men they shot and killed Anders because of his defiant and mocking attitude. His life begins to flash before his eyes, and as it does, only one distinct moment goes through his mind: a memory of when he was a young boy playing baseball. An ignorant boy approaches "child" Anders. He invites him to play and says "Short stop is the best position they is" (76). Anders ignores this grammatical error, because he wanted the other boys to like him. The man in the bank and the young boy on the baseball
The Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket is about a man named Tom Benecke. Tom had been doing research on grocery store displays for two months and, one night all his work flew out the window. Tom knew he couldn’t just let all that work go, so he went out the window after his paper. When tom got outside on the window ledge, 11 stories up, he felt fine. It wasn’t till after he had retrieved the paper, and accidentally looked down, that the panic started to kick in. Tom started to feel paralyzed and was losing his strength to hold on to the ledge. Even worse, tom kept playing awful scenarios in his head on numerous ways he could fall to death. When he finally got back to the window to go back inside, it had slammed shut and wouldn’t open back up. Now tom was stuck outside the window, losing the strength to hold on to the ledge and rehearsing all
An individual who grows up in a home without affection knows no other way of life. The bond of family is arguably the strongest bond between two humans, but when that bond breaks, individuals may feel lost and helpless. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood reconstructs an apparently motiveless murder and its aftermath, in an attempt to interpret the minds of outcasts Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. In the process, Capote draws parallels between Smith and himself and reveals that unrealistic dreams can stem from unsupportive parents. Capote classifies In Cold Blood as a type of journalism that uses real-life incidents to craft a fiction-like story. Termed the nonfiction novel, In Cold Blood inspired countless other authors to write in the same genre. Capote’s thorough analysis of the killers not only indicates perceptive revelations about the connection between turbulent families and violence, but it also reveals Capote’s inability to resolve his past struggles. By imitating the life and minds of two American criminals in his nonfiction novel, Capote attempts to understand the human condition while confronting his own internal struggles, which inspires later authors to write in the new journalism genre.
In the short story, Bullet in the Brain, by Tobias Wolff, a character named Anders is shot in the head during a bank robbery. As the story first begins, he is presented as a man who is known for his “elegant savagery”. While reading the story, it is hard to care about Anders due to his unsympathetic personality. However, as the story progresses, memories of Anders’s past are resurfaced and the reasons for his behavior are understood. Readers start off disliking Anders because of his cruel behavior, but once we recognize the many tragic events he has gone through, such as “seeing a woman leap to her death”, it is justifiable that he is callous. Choosing to portray Anders character in this way reminds readers to not judge a book by their cover.
The story goes into explaining the difference between an organized and independent killer. Primarily, this story is of an independent killer whose contract with a customer determines his price for killing. The independent killer works for himself and trains and learns how to become a professional killer so that when a customer seeks a hitman, they know the perfect person that will perform the execution. Based off the contract for the hitman, it is beneficial that the hitman does not know the motive for killing; because, it may inhibit execution because of morally justified behavior. In the story of the hitman Pete, focused on what the money for killing might bring- (such as good reputation and a certain lifestyle), and ignored what the killing of one person might do and also the reaction of the victim during execution. When Pete encountered his first execution, the look on the victims face is what haunted him until his second killing. Based off the look from his first killing, is what ignited his suppressed feeling of deviance and wrongful killing, starting his professional hitman
Both Meursault, from Albert Camus`s the Stranger, and the sniper, from “Sniper” by Harry Chapin are protagonists who perpetrate brutal murders. While Meursault and the sniper embraced death after an emotional epiphany, both characters were viewed differently by their peers in their respective societies which resulted in divergent motives for murdering.
The narrators in “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” want us, as readers, to understand why they behaved immorally. However, because of the circumstances, these narrators prove unreliable and we can’t help but to identify them as psychopaths and sympathize with their victims. Psychopath is defined as a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, and failure to learn from experience.
Capote's narrative method also emphasizes two language systems--the first based on punishment, the second on psychological analysis of personality-- that demonstrate opposing ways of judging human behavior, thus making it impossible for one to judge the killers or the novel from one specific viewpoint. This example, and the example regarding two channels for reader sympathy, illustrates the theme of dualism presented in the novel. In order to evaluate these opposing issues, one might investigate the critical "confession" scene, in order to get a more lucid sense of how Capote's narrative is supposed to make the reader feel. This scene provides a basis for reading the murders, for placing them within a coherent design for In Cold Blood as a whole. The narrative promises to create an understanding of the crimes and get to the bottom of the killers' motives--if not through the legal system, then perhaps through the process of psychological analysis. Capote utilizes this consistent sense of dualism that never allows the reader to think only from one biased perspective.
The novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is said to fall under the genre of psychological horror. The stories that fall under the genre of horror include a few essential elements: a villain or one seen as evil to create an initial story line. The foil is the next element; a foil is a person who tries to stop the villain from going through with the evil plan or plot. These two elements naturally lead to conflict between the two persons or groups and then from this conflict -- suspense, the last element is added. Suspense is important to keep the reader interested and to keep the story line going. When psychology is added to a story, the definition of horror is changed completely. There are still those few essential elements above but there is also a few more added. The story now has something to do with the mind and how it works, and there is really no definition for that. The mind and it's workings are a mystery to us and that mystery of the mind adds to the suspense and therefore the idea of psychology and horror are able to go together and become one. This essay will prove that The Silence of the Lambs is indeed a psychological horror according to the five criteria above along with other sources. The first element to a psychological horror is a villain, and the villain is The Silence of the Lambs is Mr. Jame Gumb. He is a white male in his mid thirties, 'most serial killers are white male, unemployed, intelligent and experience financial difficulty.';(Bonata, 3) Gumb is all of these things, he is unemployed but a very skilled seamstress, and using these skills is making himself a second skin out of women who he is able to take control of and render them powerless. He is also very intelligent but is anable to interact with other people and therefore remains unemployed. He experienced financial difficulties until he was the recipient of a large sum of money from an inheritance. 'The unconscious fear of women goads some men with a compulsive urge to conquer, humiliate, hurt, or render powerless some available sample of womanhood.';
This clever story is crafted down to the smallest detail - every word and expression implies something, often has a second meaning and so manipulates the reader's opinion. The factor that makes this story even more interesting, is that it is written from the murderer's point of view, while the opinion of the author is still evident.
...us on deadly revenge. In each case, a retribution that is carried out in a cruel and callous fashion. The men fulfilling these actions are cold, calculating, and contemplative. They have painstakingly endeavored to seek retribution against what has plagued them: Fortunato and his insults to the Montresor and the old man’s piercing, chilling eye for the man from “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Driven to the point of madness by their own obsessions, they plot to murder their offenders. The tales are told each by the man who has indeed committed the crime. Each man’s insanity becomes more and more clear as they narrate confession; the Montresor with the unfailing ease with which he dictates his account and the man from “The Tell-Tale Heart” with his jagged and rough delivery. Their distinct mental instability calls into question to reliability of the report they give.
Despite the crimes which the Pardoner accuses them, he continues to tell the tell of the youngsters. It is a tale which starts out with the three men discussing how someone named "Death" killed one of their acquaintances and they seek retribution. This killer seems also to have the blood of many pe...
“Our days are filled with a constant stream of decisions. Most are mundane, but some are so important that they can haunt you for the rest of your life.” Travis Bradberry. It is interesting how little decisions people make everyday can change their life. Such is the case of Anders in “Bullet to the Brain” whose love of words and his hatred of the mundane cause him to make bad decisions. The combination of these two elements of his life contribute directly to his being shot. People need to read this story in their twenties, because in a person’s twenties they think that they have life figured out and that nothing can hurt them. This story shows that in reality how a person treats others and the words they chose to use can kill them, because life is not always mundane and predictable.