Tobias Wolff

Elements in the short stories “Hunters in the Snow” and “The Most Dangerous Game” determine that “Hunters in the Snow” is a literary fiction and “The Most Dangerous Game” is a commercial fiction. The short story “Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff contains elements that classify the piece a literary fiction. The work has an unsettling and indeterminate denouement, which are found primarily in literary fiction; commercial works often have happy resolutions in which all loose ends are tied.…

some good and some bad, but at the end of they day they are the reason why a person is a certain way. Tobias Wolff’s short story “Bullet in the Brain” shows how Andres, “a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed,” becomes angry after listening to two women have a “loud, stupid conversation [that puts] him in a murderous temper” (Wolff, 200). While impatiently waiting in line, he notices that one of the tellers placed a ‘POSITION…

bleak story of three friends on a routine hunting trip in Spokane, Washington. Richardson and Lock’s ideas on enfreakment as “part of the collective norm" and the medical model of disability play a significant role in how the men treat each other as Wolff characterizes a trio of selfishly driven “friends” who really only care about their own well-being (R&L 58-63). This implicit and explicit characterization, coupled with a backwoods setting away from society and full circle irony, highlights…

to address in each story. These elements include: point of view, setting, plot, symbols, character, style, theme, and tone. Within each story there are examples of all the elements, however our focus is on plot and style. Flannery O’Conner and Tobias Wolff use their differences in writing style to enhance their version of a similar plot in…

As I dug deeper into Tobias Wolff’s Hunters in the Snow, I found that he uses several literary devices to help strengthen his story. It not only captured my attention from the beginning, but also provided me with perfect examples on how this writing went from adequate to amazing with several devices and tactics. Between the intense details that engulfed this story to the undying dialogue and other aspects of the story, I found Wolff’s tactics to be quite effective. Wolff enhanced his story by…

and 11, the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston honored the Ernest Hemingway's centennial. The two-day symposium brought out some of the leading lights of American and international letters-Nobel Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners, writers like Tobias Wolff, Robert Stone, and Annie Proulx. More significant, though, were the non-writers in attendance: a sell-out crowd paid $125 apiece to fill the hall. The turn-out shows that in an America that is hardly literary-indeed, barely literate-Hemingway…

famous novel Jane Eyre on how everyone should be free to think and feel what they want. Themes such as autonomy and independence, which are encouraged by this passage, are not present in the minds of characters from both “Hunters In The Snow” by Tobias Wolff and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Both short stories focus on the idea that the characters have forgotten how to have thoughts and feelings of their own, and this could be seen as their downfall. It is hard to determine the incentives of…

A Decision to Make Up for the Past Tobias Wolff’s Bullet in the Brain tells the story of the death of the main character, Anders. Anders makes a decision that leads to his death, when he decides to talk back to the gunmen that are robbing the bank he is in. His decision to talk back comes from numerous pressures and motivations. He is pressured by the other victims in the bank, and by one the gunmen. Anders is also pressured by his internal need to preserve his life, and his inability, or…

and watched the teller with hatred “oh that’s nice” one of them said. She turned to Anders and added, confident of his accord, one of those little human touches that keep us coming back for more.” To which Anders responded “dammed unfair” “tragic.” (Wolff) That very moment is very hypocritical of Anders to comment like that because he himself is upset with the teller’s actions but he begins to put down the lady in front of him for making a comment. Anders never had the best attitude to begin…

famous novel Jane Eyre on how everyone should be free to think and feel what they want. Themes such as autonomy and independence, which are encouraged by this passage, are not present in the minds of characters from both “Hunters In The Snow” by Tobias Wolff and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Both short stories focus on the idea that the characters have forgotten how to have thoughts and feelings of their own, and this could be seen as their downfall. Difficulties are found when determining…