In the Face of Death

To the naked eye, it might be difficult for a person to find comparisons between Salvage the Bones and “Bullet in the Brian.”  But, both stories emphasis how the true nature of a person will arise in the face of imminent death. The ending of Salvage the Bones is one of devastation and desperation; survival and fortitude; sacrifice and survival.  In chapters 11 and 12, the characters exemplify what they are in their most basic form: humans.  In the face of the storm, they will do anything they can to survive.  Being in the economic situation that they are in, they legitimately face death with the storm and the flood it creates.  They do what human nature tells us to do with our life on the line; they fight.  Skeetah is tested as to who he really is at his core: in the decision he makes by saving the life of Esch over China. 

In “Bullet in the Brain,” Anders is similarly is put into a position where he is looking death in the face, staring down the gun barrel of an angry bank robber.  Anders, at his most basic core, is a critic.  “Anders bust 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."  Even though he knew the action could very possibly result in his death, it was “helpless” for him to mock the robbers choice of exclamatory.  In Salvage the Bones, Esch and her family survived as they all showed their true nature in the storm: fighters.  For Anders, even though his actions resulted in his death, he was who he is at his core in the last moments of his life: a critic.