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Anders
Anders is visiting a bank just before closing time, when two masked men wearing blue business suits enter the premises. They begin to threaten both the bank staff and the customers with guns, using clichéd phrases from gangster movies to intimidate their victims. One robber, who carries a pistol, singles out Anders for rough treatment when Anders’ sarcastic commentary begins to sound disrespectful. As one of the story’s antagonists, the robber clashes with Anders in multiple ways: he physically threatens him with a gun, but he also introduces psychological tension into the story. At the beginning of “Bullet in the Brain,” Anders personality is overwhelmingly cynical, which prevents him from sensing the danger he is in. When Anders looks into the robber’s reddened eyes, however, Anders begins to realize his cynicism has put him in harm’s way. Unfortunately, this insight cannot change Anders’ behavior entirely, and Anders laughs at the robber’s clichéd speech, leading the robber to shoot him. While the robber’s actions force Anders to come to a gradual realization about the cost of cynicism, this realization does not happen soon enough to save Anders’ life.
Robber Quotes in Bullet in the Brain
The Bullet in the Brain quotes below are all either spoken by Robber or refer to Robber. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Bullet in the Brain
Quotes
“Oh, bravo,” Anders said. “‘Dead meat.’” He turned to the woman in front of him. “Great script, eh? The stern, brass-knuckled poetry of the dangerous classes.”
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The barrel tickled like a stiff finger and he had to fight back the titters. He did this by making himself stare into the man's eyes, which were clearly visible behind the holes in the mask: pale blue and rawly red-rimmed. The man's left eyelid kept twitching. He breathed out a piercing, ammoniac smell that shocked Anders more than anything that had happened, and he was beginning to develop a sense of unease.
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Anders burst out laughing. He covered his mouth with both hands and said, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” then snorted helplessly through his fingers and said, “Capiche-oh, God, capiche,” and at that the man with the pistol raised the pistol and shot Anders right in the head.
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Robber Quotes in Bullet in the Brain
The Bullet in the Brain quotes below are all either spoken by Robber or refer to Robber. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Bullet in the Brain
Quotes
“Oh, bravo,” Anders said. “‘Dead meat.’” He turned to the woman in front of him. “Great script, eh? The stern, brass-knuckled poetry of the dangerous classes.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The barrel tickled like a stiff finger and he had to fight back the titters. He did this by making himself stare into the man's eyes, which were clearly visible behind the holes in the mask: pale blue and rawly red-rimmed. The man's left eyelid kept twitching. He breathed out a piercing, ammoniac smell that shocked Anders more than anything that had happened, and he was beginning to develop a sense of unease.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Anders burst out laughing. He covered his mouth with both hands and said, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” then snorted helplessly through his fingers and said, “Capiche-oh, God, capiche,” and at that the man with the pistol raised the pistol and shot Anders right in the head.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
