The following essay compares Tobias Wolff’s ‘Bullet in the Brain’ and Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find.’ The latter is a tale of a family off for a vacation in Florida. The trip has been opposed by the grandmother who prefers going to Tennessee instead. In the course of their journey, they are involved in an accident. Coincidentally, it is the infamous ‘Misfit’ that approaches them, but does not quite help. Alongside his two cronies, the ‘Misfit’ kills the entire family. ‘Bullet in the Brain’ tells a story of a book critic named Anders. The story is presented in two parts. Anders experiences one final memory following his shooting in the head by the bank robbers. As the main character of the story, Anders appears an unsympathetic and reckless character whose obsession with words has obscured his sense of sanity. These two short stories are so similar yet so different (Orozco).
Both stories are told in a satirical tone despite the seriousness of the situations. In ‘Bullet in the Brain,’ Anders satirizes and criticizes everything he encounters with null consideration of the possible consequences. Consider the last paragraph of the story, “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.” (Wolff). When reading this line, it is easy for one to laugh or grin failing to realize that it is describing a bullet in Anders' head. One may speculate that the line satirizes Anders’ tough and reckless nature that has finally led to his impending death. While he could still talk and criticize things around him, his fate was already sealed since the bullet will finally kill him. What is interesting in this case is that the author is employing comics in a situation that involves death. However, regarding the nature and personality of the main character, Anders, the author seems to use this satire to send a message to the readers that situations as serious as bank robberies should be treated with the desirable sense of seriousness away from the ritualistic means of doing things. Anders’ ritualistic nature of critiquing everything, even at the wrong time, would lead to his death. In a similar manner, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ applies the use of satire, albeit not as much. The grandmother, just before leaving for the trip, dresses in her best clothes and includes flowers on her hat so that people could recognize her as a refined ‘lady’ in the case of a car accident (O’Connor). This assertion is laughable and satirical in two senses. Firstly, a grandmother can never be a lady despite the circumstance given that she is irreversibly old. Secondly, a car accident will probably dismember her body, destroy her dress, and toss away her flower. Besides, what will be the use of strangers recognizing her as a refined lady after her death? However, the satire in these stories adds a light moment and drives away boredom that would result from reading a plain story. The culminating effect of the satirical tone of the story is that the reader gets the urge to read it to the end (Orozco). The satirical tone also affects the stories in the sense that it draws the attention of the reader to the particular issues and wider societal issues like gender identity when the Grandmother doubts that people will recognize her after her death without he exquisite dressing. In both stories, the tone points the reader to particular societal values and aspects like the inevitability of death.