Note: This post contains spoilers. If you want to read the story beforehand, it’s here, or you can listen to the author read it here.
My Summary
We see the humanity of an obnoxious asshole, after a bullet crashes through his brain, and we’re given a glimpse into the specifics of his past.
I hated Anders, at first. I hoped he’d get shot. When he did, it paid off far more than I expected.
My Takeaways as a Writer
Don’t be afraid of a simple situation or a simple chain of events.
Wolff pares it down and then pares it down some more. None of the other characters are developed. The setting is mentioned only when absolutely necessary.
The complexity is created through the juxtaposition of the two lists presented at the end.
What’s at Stake?
Anders’ character and Anders’ life. His life is clearly secondary to his character in this piece; the life question enters when the robbers do, and it leaves when he is shot.
Even when his life is at stake, it never over-shadows his character. Instead, the character question intensifies because he can't stop digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole, and we’re left asking, “Why won’t he just shut up?”
(I’ve speculated that his compulsive sardonic distance is a form of self-protection, which is why he can’t stop when his life is in danger. Perhaps, the danger makes even it worse.)
And, of course, Wolff makes sure every beat is relevant to the stakes at hand. Even the thing that feels most like a digression isn't: when a bank robber shoves a pistol under his chin, forcing him to look at the ceiling, there’s a long beat where he describes details of the mural with the same sardonic eye he’s been using since the start of the story. The audacity of his character deepens (Anders spares no one under any circumstances) and he makes himself laugh, leading directly to the bullet entering his brain.
The Two Lists
What Anders remembers: The baseball scene.
It is was an unguarded time in Anders’ childhood when he absorbed a moment of language that changed him. There is no judgement in it, only fascination.
This appears either because he chooses to remember it or a twist of fate gives it to him in the split second before his death. This is left ambiguous.
What Anders does not remember: These events aren't rendered as specifically and carefully as the baseball scene. We don't know if he chose to forget them or not, but the fact that these memories do not arise gives relevance to the one that did.
When the one memory is set next to the non-memories, the birth of his true character emerges, and we see someone far more sympathetic and vulnerable than what we'd been seeing all story.
My Questions
Question 1:
Did the list of what he did not remember need to be as long as it was?
I noticed that in different version, some of the non-memories were cut. How much work is each non-memory doing, and how much of this work do we need done in the story?
Question 2:
Was the first half of the last paragraph necessary?
The bullet is already in the brain; it won't be outrun forever, or charmed to a halt. In the end it will do its work and leave the troubled skull behind, dragging its comet's tail of memory and hope and talent and love into the marble hall of commerce. That can't be helped. But for now Anders can still make time.
This is long intro to tell us that Anders can still make time, and that time is used to deepen his one memory. Maybe that alone means it earns it’s place, but I also wonder if there was a more efficient way to get into the memory.
It’s an extra beat. It slows things down even further, which is sort-of the point, but do we need it to be that slow? We’ve already been stuck in Ander’s head for two pages at this point.
I love the “comet’s tail of memory,” line, but I didn’t like the “it won’t be outrun forever, or charmed to a halt,” because it seems like he’s stating the obvious for the sake of being poetic.
Question 3:
Do you ever get the feeling that Wolff had a particular critic in mind when he wrote this story? Maybe it was the personification of the critical voice in his head.