Response to Wolff

I was immediately drawn into Tobias Wolff’s On Being A Real Westerner because it starts off by mentioning a gun which is a real attention grabber because when there is a gun in a story or movie etc, it is most likely going to be used. Also this was a real interesting story because he progresses from getting the gun out when his parents aren’t home and taking it apart and cleaning it to aiming it while it’s loaded at innocent people walking down the street and even to shooting a squirrel in the middle of the street. However, what was most interesting was that he described that, “Power can be enjoyed only when it recognized and feared. Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.” This quote was the most interesting part of the story for me because he becomes irritated at the unaware people walking down the street because even those he has power over them, they believe they are safe simply because they are unaware. At the end he gives a reflection about how he knows that he can’t avoid getting the gun out again even though he knows how insane and grotesque it is. This was also very interesting to me.