
Tobias Wolff used his short story Bullet in the Brain to give a commentary on life, and how it is lived. The meaning behind this short story is that if you are too critical in life, or focused too much on the small things, you will miss the moments in life that really matter. This analysis will look at how Wolff used keywords and phrases in the final paragraph of page 204, such as “love” (Wolff 204) and “did not remember” (204), to help convey the meaning of the text to the reader, and asses the uses and limits of the paragraph to everyday life. Finally, all the arguments made will be put together to show how they further the meaning of the text. Although the meaning is never specifically stated, after a close analysis, Wolff’s project can be found.

Wolff uses the character Anders to get project across. Anders was a critic, and just as the stereotype of a critic goes, he focused too much on the very minute details of the situations that he was presented with, and often did not care about larger details that a regular person would focus on. This is seen in his interactions with the two bank robbers. He was very critical of everything from the way that they spoke, stating “” Oh, bravo,” Anders said. “Dead meat.”” (Wolff 201) when they threatened him, to the way that the ceiling was painted when they forced him to look up, noticing that “It was even worse than he remembered, and all of it executed with the utmost gravity” (203). These two moments in the story show that Anders is in fact a person that is too focused on every small detail, and because of that, Wolff is able to use him to show how the reader can miss key moments in their lives.

 In no section of this story does the meaning become more clear than when Anders is shot in the head, and the moments of his life that he does not remember are recalled. By using possible memories that Anders could have had before he died, but instead did not, stating “It is worth noting what Anders did not remember, given what he did remember” (Wolff 204), he is able to show why being too critical can have a negative effect on one’s life. Wolff uses the phrase “did not remember” (204) to emphasize the moments that one would think Anders should have remembered but did not. These instances are what is used to show how looking to closely into life will make you miss these major events. Memories like meeting his first love, which is a big moment in one’s life, are forgotten in Anders final memories. A normal person would typically remember something like this, because it is a special event in one’s life. Another word that pops up more than once, and is useful to the meaning of the text is “love” (204). The word appears when the possible memories of his first love and his wife are discussed, stating that “he did not remember his first lover, Sherry, or what he had most madly loved about her” (204), and “Anders did not remember his wife, whom he had also loved” (204). These two instances again are moments that a person would probably have as a final memory, but Anders did not. What is particularly important about these two memories is that they were of things that Anders had loved in at least one point in his life. If he truly loved them, then why did he not remember them? The moment that you fall in love with somebody is a big moment in your life, and Anders had not just one of these moments, but two. The fact that he did not recall them in his final seconds of life go to show that he clearly was not focused on the bigger picture and moments, and instead was too focused on the small things.  The two phrases, “did not remember” and “love” (204) are used to show how Anders was never fully aware of larger moments in his life, because he was too focused on knit-picking every small detail of it. The memories that Anders did not have can be used to infer that he missed out on the big moments of his life. 

Although this passage can be used to show why it is important to live life to the fullest and take in every moment, there are some limits to it. For instance, it does not specifically talk about the one thing that Anders did remember, although it does make a brief mention of it, as stated in a previous quote “…given what he did remember” (Wolff 204). Because Anders last memory is not clearly stated in this section, the entire meaning of the story cannot be derived specifically from it. However, this section is only used to further the meaning of the story, not give it away in its entirety. Another limit to this passage is that it does not go deep enough into Anders past to show why he no longer loved Sherry and his wife. There could be a reason as to why he did not think about them in his final memory, but the story did not say if there was or was not. Since there is no true evidence to show why Anders did not think of these memories, the reader cannot prove that Anders only forgot about those memories because he was too critical. There is perhaps a chance that he could have had negative memories associated with them that made him neglect to remember them in his final moments of life.

The overarching theme of this story is to enjoy life to its fullest by experiencing the big moments in life that really matter, and what makes you happy. This section relates greatly to this theme by showing how Anders missed all of these moments that would generally make a person happy. Although it is not specifically stated in the story, it can be inferred that Anders is not really happy with his life by his actions in the bank scene. Even before the robbery, Anders is impatient, and quick to get into an argument with the two women in line in front of him. He appears to be very discontent with the situation he is in, and overall frustrated with life. In this sense, the final paragraph on page 204 essentially serves as a warning, stating that if you do not take the time to enjoy happy moments in your life, you will end up discontent with your life, and will fail to find a sense of satisfaction day to day. This section of the text furthers the theme of the story by providing examples of how it could be applied to everyday life. It brings up specific memories that almost every person has and can relate to, and shows why they are memories that a person would probably have before they die. Without this section in the text, Wolff would have never been able to show how missing important moments in life can be negative to a person’s happiness. 

By analyzing the final paragraph on page 204 in Bullet in the Brain the meaning of the entire story becomes clear. The examples of the things that Anders did not remember are used to show that if you neglect important moments in life, like your first love, or your wife, or even your own child, you will not have a sense of happiness later on. Although the passage has some limits in terms of analyzing the entire story, the weight of the uses for it are simply too much to deny its importance to the overall meaning of the story. Without the specific examples of happy memories that Anders did not remember in his final moments of life, the reader would never have known that Anders had missed them, and thus, the theme of the story could not have been found.

 