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#11 Bullet in the Brain (Tobias Wolff, 1995)

 Rating: 7.8/10

    People today are exposed to society to ruin their innocence easily. Once the innocent being enters adulthood, capitalism, jealousy, and selfishness destroy that decency of years in seconds. Unfortunately, it is very challenging to maintain innocence outside of parents’ boundaries of protection. This way, people in some situations - like those in KMLA - lose the ability to pursue happiness even before they finish their teenage hood. 

    In “bullet in the brain,” Anders’ cynicism resorts himself to be shot by the bank robbers. During that milliseconds, the bullet punctures his brain; he remembers a single scene from his childhood in which he played baseball with his neighbors. The depiction of such a memory let me realize that Anders also was a person full of emotions, sympathy, and passion. Perhaps this story was Wolff’s attempt to remind people that innocence can still be regained even if it is too late to save one’s life completely. 


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