Tobias Wolff's Bullet In The Brain

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Imagery and voice are essential to the conveyance of a good story, using words to paint the scene for the reader. Choosing a point of view and sticking to it, as not to confuse the audience. In Tobias Wolff’s Bullet in the Brain these devices are expertly displayed. Jannet Burroway wrote that “a character’s voice is a chosen mimicry” and I agree with her that the creative use of a character’s voice is a gratifying device in creative writing (Burroway). Much can be learned about a character’s voice in Bullet in the Brain (Wolff). The voice of Anders, the main character, gives readers a great deal of insight as to the characters nature. We, as readers, can feel the animosity of the character as if it were our own. His verbal assault on the …show more content…
Tobias uses the details of this story in a profound and thought-provoking manor. Without concrete and significant details a story can be reduced to mush; a verbose explanation of insignificant events that leave a reader wondering what the point and purpose might have been. A good writer can manipulate a reader’s mind, for a time focusing their thoughts and emotions. Bullet in the Brain exemplifies this idea of important details and is and expertly woven tale. We are introduced to the character, a bitter and cynical man, in the moments before his death. I was almost grateful when the sorry cad was shot, and then Wolff throws you a curve ball. Showing the characters life before the cold, dark bitterness had settled in his heart. Wolff shows us the lover he once was, the playful, almost carefree youth he had been so long ago. As readers, we begin to feel for the character. Seeing his life and having it resonate within us. I began to better understand Anders’, began to see how it was that the angry man came to be. I saw his romantic side, “The hundreds of poems he had committed to memory in his youth so that he could give himself the shivers at will” (Wolff). I began to connect with Anders all the while knowing he was going to
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