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Bullet in the Brain
Classic short story by Tobias Wolff
This is a one scene short story taking place at a bank. Anders is in the bank queue waiting for service. He is a book critic who is portrayed as very disagreeable. Through his interactions with other customers in the queue, he comes across as pompous and sarcastic. The scene is interrupted by armed robbers bursting into the bank. Anders keeps up his sarcastic, mocking comments even with the armed robbers. He either seems incapable of realising the danger of his situation or doesn’t care about his life. Everything remains subject to the scathing eye of his critical appraisal. Even the motif on the ceiling when the robber tells him to put his head up, falls prey to his withering gaze. After a warning, Anders continues to mock the robbers choice of language and he is shot in the head.
This is the climax of the scene and the death of Anders. But there is a gap before the text continues. The author slows down the narrative of the bullet entering his brain and talks about Anders memories in that micro-second before his death. First we are told what Anders does not remember. The memories that are described to us change our view of Anders as they start to enfold and slowly humanise him. He comes across as more rounded and sympathetic. The memory he does recall is playing baseball as a boy with his friends, and a boy from outside…
