Nina Godridge " Bullet in the Brain"

Hey everyone, it's Nina Godridge. Today I want to discuss " Bullet in the Brain" as I was very fascinated in this five paged short story. Told in the third person point of view, we immediately meet Anders, a man in line waiting for a teller to help with his transaction. Anders doesn't have a filter, he says what is on his mind, not really thinking of the implications until the robbers come into the bank. This moment is very sudden, as it opens up the second page of the story. This quickness in events ties very well the short length of the story. The descriptions of characters and settings are summed up in choice of detailed diction. Especially when Anders is describing the ceiling with the scene of Zeus and Europa, " To make the cow sexy, the painter had canted her hips suggestively and given her long droopy eyelashes, through which she gazed back at the bull with sultry welcome." (283) Besides that detailed description, the best part of the story was when the bullet entered through Anders' brain - the instant visions of memories intertwined with the motion of motion of the bullet passing through his brain was very interesting. I learned so much about the brain from the portrayal of that bullet entering and exiting, especially with the story of that day on the baseball field where the boy's words, " Short's the best position they is." (285). The ending lines of the story as the repeated " They is" in italics creating a fading motion to his death as he is probably lying on the bank floor, the last remaining memories fading away in his brain as it retreats into death. It's a beautiful sentiment to death with the fading cinematic affect.