Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff Essay

â€Å"Bullet in the Brain† is a short story written by Tobias Wolff. The story is about a book critic named Anders, while waiting in a long line at the bank he is the victim of an armed robbery and gets shot and killed. The story is divided in to two parts, and this division allows the reader to see a contrast between two parts of main character’s personality. I want to argue in this essay that the combination of Anders love of words and negative past experiences are what led to his death, and demonstrate the contrast of Anders wisdom when he was younger ,and innocence when he was older, as a consequence of that combination. In the first part of the story when Anders is waiting in line, he’s witness to an armed robbery and he is sarcastic and cynical until he got shot in the head. In the second part the bullet inside Anders brain slows down time to let the reader witness the negative past experience that made him such a cynical sarcastic and childish person that he was when he got shot. I will start from the second part of the plot when he got shot. In this part of the story we see more sides to Anders character. We have a short summary of Anders past experience in life that made him so cynical and sarcastic like he is to the point he got shot. The highlight of the second part is that the writer made a list of memories that Anders would not remember, the readers, have a better perspective to Anders personality: â€Å"He did not remember his first lover, Sherry, or what he had most madly loved about her, before it came to irritate him-her unembarrassed carnality, and especially the cordial way she had with his unit, which she called Mr. Mole As in ‘Uh-oh, looks like Mr. Mole wants to play†. This is an example of Anders personality when he loves a woman and adores her choice of words of how she called he’s genital and gets him irritated after a while. Anders did not remembered his wife whom he had also loved before she exhausted him with her predictability†. Another example of someone he loved that he got tired of. â€Å" Anders did not remembered his dying mother saying of his father ‘I should have stabbed him in his sleep†. Another example of a negative experiences that accrued Anders that left a mark and vanished his innocent and made him bitter. The highlight of this part of the plot is a memory of a much earlier moment in his life that shows a contrast to the cynical, sarcastic character whose comments cost his life. As a boy, Anders accepted and admired the musical qualities of someone’s faulty grammar and had the wisdom not to ask the Coyle’s cousin to repeat his words that the other kids wont think him as a jerk, but as an adult Anders seems only to find these flaws as a kind of noise and had no wisdom to keep he’s mouth shut as expected from him. Here, we see a memory evoked at the moment of impact. â€Å"Some one asks the cousin what position he wasn’t to play. ‘Shortstop’. The boy says, â€Å"shortstop the best position they is†. Anders turns and look at him. He wants to hear Coyle’s cousin repeat what he’s just said, thought he knows better than to ask. the others will think that he is a jerk, ragging the kid for his grammar. But that isn’t it, Anders is strangely roused, elated by those final two words. Their pure unexpectedness, and their music. He takes the field in a trance, repeating them to himself. † Here we see what Anders is actually enthusiastic about, and likes the words for their music, even though they are grammatically wrong, as he repeats them to himself it puts him into a trance in the field. Here he celebrates the simple unexpected usage of words that sounds beautiful to his ear. In the first part the reader gets to know Anders the book critic, His known for the â€Å"weary, elegant, savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed. † he’s character is very cynical, sarcastic and arrogant. Through out the story Anders was sarcastic, cynical and criticizing everything, that was the cause of his death. In the beginning when he is waiting in line, in the bank, one of the tellers closes her position, Anders was listing to the woman in front of him complaining: â€Å"Oh that’s nice. One of them said, she turned to Anders and added, confident of his accord, â€Å"one of those little human touches that keep us coming back for more†. Anders had convinced his own towering hatred of the teller, but he immediately turned it on the presumptuous crybaby in front of him. †Damned unfair† he said â€Å"tragic really if they are not chopping off the wrong leg or bombing your ancestral village they closing their position. She stood her ground. â€Å"I didn’t say it was tragic,† she said â€Å"I just think it’s a pretty lousy way to treat your customers†. â€Å"Unforgivable† Anders said. â€Å"Heaven will take note†. Even though that Anders was upset from the position closing, he took his anger out on the lady in front of him by being sarcastic, cynical and arrogant. It’s ironic that Anders said â€Å"Heaven take note† and in the end he is the one that got shot. We witness how the love of words get Anders to react in a careless way: â€Å" Keep your big mouth shut! † the man with the pistol said, thought no one had spoken a word. â€Å"One of you tellers hit the alarm, you’re all dead meat†. â€Å"Oh, bravo† Anders said, â€Å"’Dead meat’†. He turned to the woman in front of him. † Great script, eh? The stern, brass-knuckled poetry of the dangerous classes. Anders critic of the robber’s choice of words makes him act in away if like he is the audience of a bad play and shares he’s critic with the ladies a front of him. Anders mocks the robbers and feels superior to them by saying: †The stern, brass-knuckled poetry of the dangerous classes. †. This is evidence that proof how passion Anders is for words and is not aware of any danger that might happen. When the robbers addresses Anders:†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ hey! Bright boy! Did I tell you to talk? ’ â€Å"No†, Anders said. â€Å"Then shut your trap†. â€Å"Did you hear that? † Anders said. â€Å"’ Bright boy’. Right out of the killers†. Anders is mocking the robbers choice of words, instead of be quiet like an adult should behave in this kind of situation, but he is behaving childishly and risk himself and the people that are next to him. Anders got the robbers attention and they made him look up the ceiling, he couldn’t help it, even when the robbers are pointing a gun to him and warned him a few time Anders started to laugh at the robbers face and got shot. : â€Å" ‘What’s so funny, bright boy? ’ ‘Nothing’. ‘You think I’m comical? You think m some kind of a clown? ’ ‘No’. ‘Fuck with me again, your history, capiche? ’ Anders burst out laughing. Covered his mouth with both of his hands and said, â€Å" I’m sorry, I’m sorry† than snorted helplessly through his fingers and said: â€Å"Capiche-oh, God , capiche. † And at that the man with the pistol raised the pistol and shot Anders right in the head†. This moment in the plot emphasize my argument, Anders love of words with his negative past experience is what led him to his death in the bank and he couldn’t help him self to get out of it. If this situation happen when Anders was a child he probably wouldn’t say a word to the robbers, but as an adult he couldn’t act wise and shut up.

Victor: English Language and White Community

Victor's Last Wish Victor’s Last Wish â€Å"Victor’s Last Wish† is a realistic fiction by Kris Jitab who describes in depth the pain and hardship endured by the main character, Vickramadas Gopal who was an Indian immigrant to Malaysia. Vickramadas was known as Victor throughout the short story. He made great efforts to transform himself to be like whites who he thought were the best. â€Å"Anything and everything related to the whites was beautiful to Vickramadas. † The author has painted a dramatic picture of sufferings and challenges of Victor in his course to attain a new identity – an Englishman.But, his efforts did not help him to be recognised by the white men as a part of them. He was rejected by Miss Cunningham and insulted by Miss da Gama because his skin was dark in colour. He also thought that his failure to be promoted to Junior Accountant was due to his dark skin. Thus, Victor was so desperate to have his skin colour changed. He was ver y disappointed for not getting what he had striven so hard to achieve. As a result, he lost his hope and direction in his life. Consequently, he indulged in heavy smoking, drinking, gambling. At last, he became a thief to steal in order to pay his debt.In one stealing, he was caught red-handed together with his accomplices. He tried to escape but unfortunately, in his escape, he fell into a tank of formic acid where his skin was turned white all over by the acid. His wish to change his skin into white was therefore realised but ironically he had lost his life. In this paper, two concepts of post colonial theory will be involved in the discussion of several issues and concerns raised by the author. The two concepts are mimicry and othering. Mimicry is best annotated through the main character, Vickramadas in the short story.He aspired to be an Englishman. He imitated the dress, manners and language of the whites. The othering is expressed through some characters, Miss da Gama and Mis s Cunningham, who assumed that they were superior to Vickramadas who had different skin colour from them. In the short story, Kris Jitab raised a colonial ideology that white men are the best and superior through Victor. Victor who obtained his tertiary education in King George College was greatly influenced by the English. He believed that the white men were gentlemen. In the very beginning of the short story, Victor paid his full respect to Mr.Riley who was a white man. â€Å"He felt a little self-conscious-which is understandable, for he was inside the office of a white man,† indicated that Victor had a sense of inferiority in him towards the white men. When Mr. Riley pronounced his name â€Å"Vickramadas Gopal† in a way that it did not sound like Indian anymore, Vickramadas said it was very correctly pronounced. â€Å"Vickramadas beamed. He loved the way Mr. Riley pronounced his name. † He had no will to tell Mr. Riley the correct way to pronounce his name. Everything Mr. Riley did was great and correct to Victor because he was a white man.He told himself that there was no reason to doubt the white men. In firm thought that the white men were the best, Victor set out with the aims to be like the white and emulate them. The first thing he decided to do to make him similar to a white man was changing his Indian name into an English name. Name is the most basic element that can represent or symbolise one’s culture and tradition. But, Victor had ignored the importance of his name to claim himself as an Indian. He was willing to sacrifice his name in order to fit into the white community. Beside his name, he was willing to abandon his religion.He was an educated person but the educated mind of his could not help him to think rationally. He wanted to be converted to Christianity because he thought being a Christian would make him the same as the whites. He was actually using the religion as a stepping-stone to his goal. However, Victo r failed to realise that the white men would never accept him as a part of them for his skin was dark in colour. In the short story, English was viewed as an important language to success. When Malaya was colonised by the English, English language was used as medium of instruction in Education and Politic.Victor could sense a need to master the English language as he was working for the white. In order to bring about his aim to emulate the white man, Victor concluded that all he needed to pay attention to was his speech. He attempted to improve his English speaking. He eliminated his Indian ways of speaking, which were shaking head and rolling his tongue while speaking, to speak like a white man. Victor viewed English as a powerful tool for him to advance in his career. If he could speak English fluently, he would gain confidence and deserved to be respected by the others.Moreover, he knew that not all of the Englishmen spoke good English. Thus, if he could master the language, he c ould prove that he was actually better than the white man. He could also be a gentleman like the white man. Besides the language, Victor also followed the ways the white men dress and dine. He was now a chameleon that had transformed his outward appearance to adapt himself to the white man’s lifestyle and culture. He was in an illusion that he was a white man when he spoke, dressed and dined like a white man. He refused to admit that he was an Indian anymore. I’m a Christian† is Victor’s answer to the question, â€Å"what are you? † which was asked by his acquaintance. He even behaved like a white man and started to correct others who were not behaving like him. For instance, when his friends did not eat their soup properly like gentlemen, he volunteered to give advices to them on how to eat the soup. â€Å"First of all, you shouldn’t slurp† and next â€Å"You hold your bowl by the edge facing you, and as you spoon your soup move your spoon away from you. † Author also indicates that pursuing one’s dream blindly will cause one to lose himself or herself gradually.Victor who was too possessed with his quest to attain a new identity lost himself as the story progresses. The rejection of the white man towards Victor to be part of them forced him to wander and seek companionship among the tappers as well as others outside the estate. He had tried so hard to improve his English and behave like a white man but now he had to go down to the tappers’ level, speak their kind of language and indulge in the type of activities that they preferred. He was repeating the action that he did to adapt himself to the white community.He was confused and led a strange dual-role life. His mind was in turmoil. He did not know where he was heading towards. Initially, Victor was a happy person. He thanked all his Hindu Gods for helping him to get the job. But he changed when he failed twice to be promoted to Junior Ac countant. He lost all his will to strive anymore. He even cursed the Almighty for failing him to achieve his ultimate goal-marrying Miss Cunningham. All his unfulfilled desires caused him to lose his own personality. At the end of the short story, Victor totally changed.He indulged in smoking, drinking, gambling and even stealing from his own company. Victor used to believe that â€Å"the white men are gentlemen† in the beginning of the short story. This perspective of his changed. His respect towards the white men also deteriorated when he received unfair treatment from them. Mr. Hemming had promised to promote Victor to Junior Accountant after Mr. George left the post. But, this promise had made to be broken when Mr. Gross came to replace Mr. George as the Junior Accountant. After this incident, Victor stopped to admire the white men.He started to not dress like a white man anymore. He even talked harshly to Mr. Hemming who asked about his new mode of dressing. â€Å"What happened to all your white clothes? † â€Å"I shoved them all up my arsehole. † Victor no longer treated Mr. Hemming, a white man, as a gentleman. He had lost his desire to be an Englishman as he abandoned their dress and manners of speech. From the main character, Victor, the author tried to tell the readers that humans have limited ability. There is something which is out of our control. For an example, we are unable to change other people’s perspective on us.Though Victor had tried his very best to speak, dress and behave like a white man, the white men’s perspective on him remained unchanged. They still saw Victor as an inferior whose skin was dark in colour. Miss Cunnigham could not accept Victor’s proposal for he had dark colour skin. Victor was so frustrated when Miss da Gama insulted him as a stinking â€Å"black ape†. His anger caused him to slap Miss da Gama. Consequently, he was beaten up by the white men. No white man or any Euras ian club members was willing to stand at the same side as Victor.All the white men formed a judgement that Victor was wrong. Victor was perceived as an inferior who had no right to fight back. This caused Victor to feel so helpless. He understood that he would never be accepted as a part of white men despite his great effort. He had sacrificed most of his time and money in order to get the membership of the Eurasian Club. But, the membership had been revoked due to a single deed, which was fighting back after he was insulted badly. Lastly, minority groups of any community will suffer from indiscernible oppression.In the short story, Victor felt that he had been oppressed. He had not been upgraded for ages although he performed pretty well in his job. When he entered the company- Hancock Doherty Plantation, Mr. Hemming told him that the company rewarded capable staff and virtually the sky was the limit. But Victor discovered that it was not true. Two raw white men instead of Victor, who was more experienced, were promoted to Junior Accountant before him caused him to be subjected to unfairness. â€Å"The sky’s the limit† was now a lie to him. In his opinion, his dark skin was the limitation in his career advancement.In â€Å"Victor’s Last Wish†, the main character, Victor had put in his full effort to transform himself to be like the whites who he perceived as superiors. He imitated the whites’ language, dress and manners. Unfortunately, his efforts to transform himself were not recognised by the white men. He was still perceived as a dark skin Indian who was inferior to the white men. Victor was so disappointed for not getting what he had striven so hard to achieve. He had abandoned his culture and religion to adapt himself to the white community but he received nothing in return.He was oppressed and discriminated by the white men due to his dark skin. Finally, Victor lost himself and indulged in sins as well as crimes. At th e end of the story, Victor’s wish to have his skin colour changed was realised when he fell into a tank of formic acid. But, ironically he had lost his life. The sense of inferiority in Victor had urged him to transform himself to be like his superiors. Unfortunately, he lost himself and his own identity in the process of transforming. It is not worth to sacrifice our own self and identity to achieve something that will never belongs to us.

Breast Cancer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Breast Cancer - Research Paper Example ost cases, the onset of breast cancer does not cause pain and has very little noticeable symptoms .When it progresses; some symptoms start to show up including lymph or a small thickening near or in the breast. Other symptoms include change in the size of the breast and nipple discharge. The breast becomes tender or turns inwards and causes skin irritation. Some breasts have some form of dimpling and scaliness. However having one or more of these symptoms does not necessary mean, that one has breast cancer. Cancerous tumors sometimes invade surrounding tissues and often appear in the liver, bones, brain, or lungs. People should know the symptoms of breast cancer to ensure early diagnosis. Other symptoms include change in skin texture or enlargement of pores or selling of the breast or any shrinkage. Treatment of breast cancer has different forms that include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, biological therapy, and hormone therapy. All these treatments can be used together or individually. It depends on the diagnosis and stage of the cancer .Screening of breast cancer is done at the early stages but diagnosis happens at a later stage when someone has the symptoms as discussed above. Doctors must take into consideration the grade and stage of cancer, general health, and whether a patient has reached menopause. When it comes to surgery it depends on the type of cancer someone has, which is then followed by chemotherapy or biological treatment that also depends on the type of cancer. According to Andreeva and Pokhrel (2013) Europe is divided into Eastern Europe, Western Europe. Eastern Europe has many economically, and culturally distinct nations that are marked by post communist transitions, detrimental health practices and underfunded prevention measures. Breast cancer cases in Eastern Europe are mostly diagnosed at late stages. Screening of women varies widely; about 57 percent of Hungarian women and 3% of Georgian women were seen to have been examined

LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

LAW - Essay Example As such, the national courts are under an obligation to promote EU law. However, the English courts follow a dualist approach in dealing with cases of non – compliance. This practice has resulted in a number of barriers for the UK courts to integrate the EU law with their national legislation1. In order to interpret the EU law, the European Court of Justice mainly depends on three sources; namely, the EU Treaties, Articles of the Treaties and provisions of EU law. The ECJ deals with cases of breach of EU law by Member States if their national legislation fails to correctly interpret the EU law. The ECJ then examines the legal basis of the Acts enacted by the institutions of the EU to find out their legality and practicality. Member States refer cases of infringement of EU law to the ECJ for the proper interpretation of EU law2. In the context of European integration, the United Kingdom has retained its parliamentary sovereignty to a very limited extent, in several matters relating to the European Union. The UK cannot escape from being penalised for breach of EU law; and it cannot determine the scope and extent of the penalties imposed upon it. Furthermore, the United Kingdom cannot abstain from implementing any directives issued by the EC nor does it have the power to withhold parts of directives from being implemented. This was established in the case of Factortame in 19913. In that case the parliamentary sovereignty of the UK was completely ignored by the European Court of Justice. The House of Lords refused to implement the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 on the plea that the Act challenged and derogated from, parliamentary supremacy in the UK. In another case, namely, R v. Secretary of State for Employment4, the House of Lords held that the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 was not in accordanc e with the EU Law. Their

Research Paper on a selected Multinational Company and it's foreign Essay

Research Paper on a selected Multinational Company and it's foreign Direct Investment - Essay Example The companies making direct investments have ample control and influence over the company in which the investment is made. Countries foster open economies in order to utilize the resource of skilled workforce and explore growth prospects by attracting foreign investors, so FDI becomes an obvious choice for developing countries for economic growth and development (Gilroy, Gries, & Naudà ©, 2004, p. 50-55). According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), FDI facilitates companies to make investments with the expectation of establishing lasting relationships with the target countries. FDI was considered to be one of the major drivers of continuous growth and globalization, before the financial crisis. However, as revealed by UNCTAD in the World Investment Report of 2009, about 85 percent of the Transnational Corporations got affected by financial crisis in 2008-09. USA tops the list of FDI inflow, but many other countries have joined this list (Breitfeld, 2010, p. 1). Nowadays, we stay in one global country. This is said because there are trade and commerce taking place among all the countries. People staying in any country can make use products of different countries. From this very concept the term global marketing has come up. Now, when we say that the world has become one market, we can also say that the economies of individual countries also affect the global economy, especially the international trade. There is a lot of capital involved in international trade and commerce. Products and services costing billions of money are traded everyday among nations in the world market. So the price of currency exchange and fluctuations also significantly affect the profit and income of the marketers (Baker, Epstein, & Pollin, 1998, p. 117-120). Multinational corporations (MNCs) and FDI are complex expression that illustrates two separate but correlated concept. The MNCs or multinational enterprises (MNEs) manage their production, organization, and deliver

Compare two things Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Compare two things - Essay Example On the other hand, the dog is the domesticated type of the gray wolf, and that gives the reason for the close resemblance between the two. Studies on their genetic drift have provided evidence showing that the wolf and the dog have a common ancestry (Spotte 28). North America and the Eurasian regions were the major homes of the global wolf population, but the numbers have been reducing, following an increase in human encroachment. This paper will present a comparison and a contrast of dogs and wolves, to inform people about the similarities and the differences between the two. The similarities between the dog and the wolf include that the two animals belong to the same animal species: the dog belongs to the Canidae family (canis lupus familiaris) and the wolf belongs to the same family (canidae) but the sub-family is the canis lupus. Other similarities include that the two belong to the animalia kingdom; the phylum classification of the two is also the same – they belong to the chordata class (Spotte 28). The two animals belong to the mammalian class of animals; both fall under the carnivora order; the wolf and the dog also belong to the canis genus of animals. These areas of similarity for the dog and the wolf show that they are naturally more similar than many people would believe, despite the fact that many people regard wolves to be very wild – unlike dogs. The second main area of similarity is that the two animals possess hunting abilities, despite the fact that their styles of hunting are relatively different. In the case of dogs – due to its domestication – is more likely to have a weaker hunting instinct (Horowitz 42). Further, their physical characteristics are also affected by their domestication, including that, the teeth of many species of dogs are too small and not strong enough to tear the throat of a dear. These physical changes in the dog are mainly due to its

CSI and the Post Modern Body Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CSI and the Post Modern Body - Assignment Example Therefore, it may not be fully dependable for the development of forensic science, as it seems more fictional. The CSI emphasizes more on the role of forensic science, including the relationships of DNA while undertaking investigations, while attaching less significance to the role of informers or even the detectives’ work (Harrington, 2007). The foundation of CSI is based on the fact that the identity given by the DNA tests undertaken is indisputable and accurately points to the suspect, regardless of the fact that the body could be mutilated. Most significant is the fact that it is impossible to accurately determine the actual gender of the victim, without the application of science. Therefore, the case of identity of the suspect becomes a puzzle to solve, up until the forensic science is applied, which identifies the suspect as a man, who has been living as a woman conducting surgeries and killing the victims (Harrington, 2007). The strength of the argument presented here is the fact that science is the undisputable basis of presenting an accurate identity of the individuals involved in crime. This is because; through forensic science, where the DNA of the suspects involved can be traced, then the real identity of those involved can be unquestionably noted (Harrington, 2007). Considering that through transsexual surgeries, the gender of an individual can be changed, then, it makes the investigations through detectives more complicated. This is because, while the investigation could point to the suspect of the crime from a certain gender, then tracing them would be difficult since they can change that. However, through forensic science, the real identity will always remain, as the DNA of an individual can never be changed (Harrington, 2007). Thus, the argument presents science as the basis of providing society with the unbiased truth of identity. The role of the detectives,