Sample Essay #4

Prompt: What does Anders' last memory symbolize?

Memories Taken for Granted

            Have you ever caught yourself in a life or death situation?  What memory came to mind?  “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff is about a jaded story critic. Anders is so caught up in working that criticizing became apart of his everyday routine. The story starts off at the bank and illustrates Anders personality. His personality is described as, “a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed” (Wolff). Then suddenly two men wearing black ski masks, one carrying a sawed off shotgun enters the bank. Anders wise criticisms left him with a bullet to the head. During Anders dying moment, his memory flashes back to when he was watching the neighborhood kids play football.  He was intrigue by the neighbor’s cousin’s grammar, “they is.” Anders final memory symbolizes that there was an Anders that existed before the Anders of the first section and he also realizes his life has become an impersonation of the stories he critiques.

            Anders spends so much of his time working that he becomes a pretentious critic and doesn’t realize the difference between reality and what is a fantasy.  In reference, “Anders couldn’t get to the bank until just before it closed, so of course the line was endless and he got stuck behind two women, whose loud, stupid conversation put him in a murderous temper” (Wolff). Right away, this shows Anders pretentious thoughts of the woman he has never met.  The woman also turns to Anders remarking her hatred towards the bank teller hoping that he would share his hatred as well. But Anders responds back sarcastically saying “Tragic, really. If they’re not chopping off the wrong leg, or bombing your ancestral village, they’re closing their position” (Wolff). With his dialogue, it symbolizes how much his work has an effect on him in real life situations that causes him to not know how to respond to the woman in a humane way. Wolff also shows Anders in a life-threatening situation during the bank robbery.  With his “weary and savagery” ways, Anders whispers sarcastically “oh, Bravo” and “Dead meat” to himself even when no one is listening. Anders didn’t seem to find making wise comments life-threatening because everything that happens to him is a representation of something that never exists. Thus, Anders realizes his life has become an impersonation of the stories he critiques.

            Furthermore, during Anders dying moment, his final memory symbolizes there was an Anders that existed before the Anders of the first section. The character Anders portrays in the first section is someone who is cold, rude, and especially belittling. Anders character in the first section also shows that he becomes so caught up as a critique that his real life transforms into an impersonation of the fantasy he read. This enables Anders to remember events that happens through his life because he doesn’t know if its true life or not. As Wolff writes in “Bullet in the brain”, he notifies events that make the reader believe Anders will remember them such as his wife, or a single line of the hundreds of poems he had to read. Wolff writes,  “It is worth nothing what Anders did not remember, given what he did remember. He did not remember his first lover, Sherry, or what he had most madly loved about her” (Wolff). But what Anders does remember, he is on a baseball field, leaning against a tree and watching the boys from the neighborhood gather to play football and Coyle’s cousin’s grammar “Short’s the best position, they is” (Wolff). As Wolff describes Anders personality as savagery, Anders behavior from the first section would habitually be quick to criticize Coyle’s cousin’s grammar but he doesn’t. Wolff writes, “He wants to her Coyle’s cousin repeat what he’s just said, but he know better than to ask. The others will think he’s being a jerk” (Wolff). This reveals what characteristic still exists in the Anders persona from the first section. It also shows that at one point Anders was able to enjoy his work as a critic and enjoy the events at the moment.

                        Granted that the bullet is already in the brain symbolically shows that Anders’ thoughts are now at rest.  Anders dying moment is the reality check he received and realizes that it’s too late for him to change. This also shows the act of karma for the unnecessary criticism and comments he made. Anders final memory symbolizes that there was an Anders that existed before the Anders of the first section and he also realizes his life has become an impersonation of the stories he critiques.