Tobias Wolff

The Realist that Lies: Abstract

Tobias Wolff uses a more realistic outlook in his short stories. In his short story “Bullet in the Brain,” Wolff shows why he is an award winning short story writer. He employs the use of realism exceedingly well. The characters come to life in a setting and plot that are easily identifiable by the reader. Wolff carries his style through to his other stories “Powder,” “The Liar,” and “Mortals.” He also uses these other stories to show his discernible truth. Wolff shows his typical style of realism throughout his stories and his work has only improved since he has been writing. In Wolff’s short story, “Bullet in the Brain” he shows his typical style of realism, realistic characters with positive and negative emotions, and shows an improvement in his work.

The Realist that Lies

Tobias Wolff creates “finely crafted and subtle stories often taken off into flights of poetry and imagination which question the fixed identities of realistic ‘characters’ “(Scofield). Wolff gives insight into his characters by showing their most intimate emotions and experiences. Tobias Wolff uses realist views to showcase his characters. In Wolff’s short story, “Bullet in the Brain” he shows his typical style of realism, realistic characters with positive and negative emotions, and shows an improvement in his work.

Wolff creates realistic characters that the reader can relate to. In “Bullet in the Brain,” the author presents the reader with a protagonist who is pompous and arrogant. Anders is a book critic “Known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed” (Bullet 1245). Anders is unhappy, and so he takes it out on others when he is criticizing their work. When the bank that Anders is in is being robbed, he laughs at the robbers and proceeds to berate them because they are too “cliché”. This leads to the reader wondering if Anders has a death wish. Then the bank robber points the gun at Ander’s head and...