In "Bullet In the Brain" by Tobias Wolff, in the first part of the story, how is the third-person point of view utilized to depict the...

In Tobias Wolff's short story "Bullet in the Brain," third-person omniscient narration serves a dual purpose. First, by describing the activity in the bank in third person, the author provides a glimpse of many characters without championing the narrative of one. Though the reader gets a better sense of Anders's personality than that of any of the other characters, the setting is immediately relatable to anyone who has had to wait in line for service....

In Tobias Wolff's short story "Bullet in the Brain," third-person omniscient narration serves a dual purpose. First, by describing the activity in the bank in third person, the author provides a glimpse of many characters without championing the narrative of one. Though the reader gets a better sense of Anders's personality than that of any of the other characters, the setting is immediately relatable to anyone who has had to wait in line for service. The impatience of the customers and disinterest of the tellers are not personal; they are part of a common shared experience.

The second purpose of third-person is to reveal the bank robbers to the reader as they would be revealed to anyone standing in the bank. In contrast, if the story were told in first-person by any character, the reader would automatically be concerned with the fate of just one character. Because of the omnipotent third-person narration, the reader is left wondering what will happen, watching the interaction between the gunman and Anders as anxiously as anyone in the bank. Additionally, because of the omniscient voice, the point of view of the story could shift at any time, adding to the suspense.

The characters' words do not necessarily convey their feelings. For example, Anders is as frustrated with the teller closing her position as the woman in front of him, but he does not give the woman the satisfaction of agreeing with her. Instead, he says, “Tragic, really. If they’re not chopping off the wrong leg, or bombing your ancestral village, they’re closing their positions" (para. 3), minimizing the woman's frustration. This interaction proves to be illustrative of Anders's personality, as he can't keep himself from antagonizing the gunman, even upon threat of harm.