Bullet in the brain by Tobias Wolff is saying that the fundamental cause of violence is primarily a psycological phenomona, mostly relating to the emotion of shame, this paralells ander’s journy through the second part of the story. Where after he is shot in the head, all of his regrettable life experiences sail past him forgotten in favor of one experience where he acted like a decent human being. “This is what he remembered…He wants to hear Coyle’s cousin repeat what he’s just said, but he knows better than to ask. The others will think he’s being a jerk, ragging the kid for his grammar.”, Compare this to the way he treats both the Teller in the begining of the story, and the exchange with the robber that ends with him getting shot. ““Fuck with me again, you’re history. Capiche?” Anders burst our 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”. Given the way he acts in this scene, it almost seems like anders is wanting to get shot. The first interpretation that I came to when reading this was that Anders wasnt able to submit and give respect, (Not very likely, but this whole story kind of strains the bounds of plausiblity at times). But upon examination of the other half of the story it becomes obvious that anders doesnt consider these sarcastic jabs a fundamental part of who he is, rather he is ashamed of them. Because he forgets all the shameful things about him except for the one time where he acts like a decent human being and becuase of that it is quite resonable to assume he is ashamed about that, and that shame is probably a reason for his eventual (semi)suicide.