In Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” Wolff uses unpopular key words in the terms of the modern century. He uses the main character, Anders, voice as a way to integrate an underlying meaning to the text. He does this through key words like “bright boy”, “they is”, and “capiche.” They are not frequently used, but this makes connection to the ideas of Anders’ memories and the relationships Anders treasures and ones that he feels nothing for. Anders ideals are not that of the norm, but it ends up being significant to the story and symbolic because he uses these key terms to explain these ideas to readers. Anders reveals some of his most cherished memories, yet as the story moves forward, it is not memories that somebody that has a wife and kids would think about at the end of their life. In the end, a bullet does through his brain and ends his life, that he seemed to not cherish.

When Wolff first introduces readers to the Anders, he gives Anders a negative personality. It makes it seem that Anders is an old alone man, yet as he is thinking of his baseball memory readers learn he has a family that he fails to think of. Wolff shows readers what is important to Anders. Every person has their own memories that flashes before their eyes. Also at the end of the story, Anders repeats “they is” over and over again showing that he just goes with the flow of the way is life is going. However, it seems to be ironic that he battles with the robbers when all at the end anyway he seems to settle for something less than he wanted and deserved. This is ironic because he seemed to not care what happened to him and he shows readers that time and time again when he argues back with the robbers after everything he says. It was not even at the end of his life did he seem to fight. He also let his family down at the end of his life. Throughout a person life, they find things, people, and memories that they will hold near and dear to them. However, life is what it is and in the end the memories one thinks of are almost irrelevant because once a person is dead there are no more memories or thoughts. That person’s brain is not functioning anymore. In the end, it does not matter if that person had a family or kids. Every person is equal in death. This might be a little too in depth, however this can be the simplest interpretation of the text in my opinion.

Other key words that contribute to this overall meaning are “bright boy” and “capiche.” “Bright boy” is said by Wolff when the robbers speak to Anders. It is obvious that the robber is being sarcastic. Also the word usually has a positive connotation, but this is a negative connotation. The robber was contesting Anders, which I think was his first way foreshadowing that he was going to die. The use of sarcasm is used more than once in this text and this is why Anders was shot because he was being sarcastic to the robbers. By him being sarcastic, it gives more insight that he is going to die because it shows how little he cares about living, like he has nothing to live for. Also this is how Wolff references to “The Killers,” by Ernest Hemmingway. “They is” is one of the most influential keywords in this text. This ties the whole life is what it is vibe here.  It goes hand in hand with the phrase c’est la vive, which means that’s life. I think that Anders lived a little too closely to that way of life. This lifestyle is concerning to some but rejuvenating to others. Anders just categorizes his life differently. He categorized this as an important memory. To him this meant something. Maybe that was too hard for him to remember and the baseball memory was what soothed him while he was scared in that moment. The other key term is “capiche.” This term is also for sure not used in a positive way, but in a negative connotation. This was the robbers last warning to Anders, yet Anders still did not get the hint. This was the last straw for the robbers, it was over right then and there. This is a quote that is usually used when the bad guys in the movies say when they want to make their point. Right after this was said he got shot, which sent him in to thinking heavily about his life. Yet in the end his thought was not heavy at all, but light and playful.   

The memory aspect of this text gives insight on the type of person that Anders is. This helps connect the dots as to why he is so ruthless and cold. It also makes the connection to the key words. He starts off being cold to the clerk because he is impatient. This is when he thinks solely of himself and not his family. Wolff explains, “He did not remember when everything began to remind him of something else” (Wolff 205). This was when readers realize that he is not thankful for the joys in life that he has. He is not gracious for the things he has in life. He just expects that life is supposed to end up like that. Readers see that this is the attitude that he has towards life and his memories seem unimportant to him except one simple game of baseball.  Readers almost pity him for a second when readers think that he does not have a family, but those feelings change quite quickly. Also when he describes when he gets shot, he starts to describe the situation in medical terms, like it is not sentimental. This is ironic because he is not sentimental about his life or memories at all. Life is life and that was Anders only thoughts. However, this draws a disconnection with readers because generally people cherish their loved ones and friends, so this makes readers feel not as strongly with the text. This is a disconnection because he remembers something readers think was silly Anders let things “pass before his eyes” (Wolff204). Wolff describes Anders because he did not cherish his life while he had it good. Anders gets side tracked through life only looking at the negative and not the positives, which by the time he could have realized it he was already too far gone. His brain completely done. A bullet straight through, no stopping all.     

Through this whole text, Anders did not once be appreciative of the life he had, but wanted to test his luck and now he is facing the consequences. Death. His memories relate to the key terms like “they is,” “bright boy,” and “capiche.” This is out of the normal things that people remember when they die. When people’s lives past before their eyes usually it is sentimental memories, yet he thinks a baseball game when he was a child. It was nothing significant at all, yet it made his best memory. It was the most cherished moment in his life. These key terms and symbolic meaning in the text hit the main theme of memory in “Bullet in the Brain.” This closely relates to the lifestyle of thinking that life is out of your hands and a person has no control what happens. However, when one has no cares about their life like Anders does, then that individual does not care as much about their life. Memories are in the brain and that is how Wolff connects these two ideas together in the text. When his brain dies are when his memories die. This is when he stops thinking back on his life.
