FREE ESSAY ON ANALISIS OF TOBIAS WOLFF

ANALISIS OF TOBIAS WOLFF

Tobias Wolff is a strange writer whose work is "so absolutely clear and hypnotic that a
reader wants to take it apart and find some simple way to describe why it works so
beautifully"(Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life [back cover]). Although sometimes taking place
in such foreign locations as Vietnam, Wolff's stories are predominantly based on banal
situations and people. The magic in his writing though is the fact he draws the reader
into the story at all times. He does so by connecting his characters and their conflicts
to the reader, be it through quirks, qualities or quandaries. Wolff perfects these
concepts by writing in his own lucid, terse style.
"The tales in Wolff's [books] are seamless, their characters relentlessly ordinary"(Joan
Smith, "Spelunking..."). Through personal experience and careful observation Wolff
gathers the necessary insight to piece together novels that clearly dealt with the
"normal" man and woman, their problems, and their accomplishments. Wolff's stories do not
consist of big drug deals or heated love triangles, but instead of prosaic situations.
One such is when Wolff's older brother sent him some writing he had done and Wolff
considered turning it into his English teacher as his, but dismissed the idea knowing he
would never get away with it (Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life 200-201). 
Although occurring in hackneyed settings, many of Wolff's characters find themselves in
situations they would never have thought possible: "The characters of these stories are
basically decent people who discover that they're capable of things they never expected
-- and can never again believe themselves worthy of being considered decent. (Charles
Taylor, "Sneak Peeks: The Night In Question"). For example, in the short story "Hunters
in the Snow," by Wolff, a group of three middle-aged men are hunting in the woods when
they come across a farm. Two men go inside and come out later and one is acting a little
strange. The strange one says, "I hate that tree," and shoots a tree. Next, he approaches
the farmer's dog, and says, "I hate that dog," and shoots the dog. Finally, he approaches
one of his friends, nick-named "Tubs," (for chastising purposes) and says, "I hate you
Tubs." The next moment Tubs fires upon him, delivering a nasty stomach wound. They
quickly race to the hospital, and as they are driving the third friend informs Tubs that
the farmer had asked him to shoot the dog, seeing that he was old and miserable (Tobias
Wolff, "In the Garden of North American Martyrs" ?). So, this example demonstrates how
Wolff can take an ordinary setting (hunting in the woods) and turn it into an
extraordinary event for the three men participating in it. 
Wolff enjoys touching on the humor of the ordinary person and the situations they must
deal with, such as the story of Dog Stew. "Dog Stew" was the name given to a puppy Wolff
had rescued from the hungry Vietnamese soldiers during the war. He cared for the puppy,
minimally, but it usually ended up being more of a nuisance because of the harassment he
received from the soldiers, who would rub their bellies and lick their lips whenever they
saw him. On Wolff's last night in Vietnam, he was having dinner with some of his good
friends from the war, and he was served a bowl of soup. He said it was very good and
asked what it was, and his friends only replied by rubbing their stomachs and smacking
their lips. Although slightly appalled, Wolff knew inside him that it was destined to
happen... how could it not, with a name like Dog Stew? These kind of comical and ironic
situations are copious in Wolff's books, and make them all the easier to read. All in
all, Wolff's portrayal of banal situations and people is the driving force behind his
main strength as a writer, drawing the reader into the story.
When reading Wolff's books, the reader tends to feel drawn towards the characters and the
problems they face. This "magnetism" is a combination of Wolff's lucid writing style and
choice of subject matter (prosaic people and places), woven together in the way only
Wolff can do it. Wolff uses three main elements to connect the character to the reader:
quirks, qualities, and quandaries. 
Wolff's books are packed full of quirks; it is impossible to turn a page without seeing
one. The author of this document can relate to many of the quirks presented in Wolff's
characters, which is what draws him and all the other readers of Wolff into the story.
For instance, one morning in Vietnam "...I got hungry and made a sandwich... I became
aware of my hands and what they were doing. How strange it is to spread mayonnaise. It
can be the strangest thing you've ever done"(Tobias Wolff, In Pharaoh's Army 134). Not
meaning to diverge from the main subject, but the author of this paper knows exactly what
it is like to experience the oddity of such menial events as spreading mayonnaise; they
are really weird! Ok, returning to the point at hand, quirks a large factor in Tobias
Wolff's writing and are the main force behind drawing the reader into the story.
The second element is qualities. All characters have qualities, but Wolff chooses
specific ones in order to make the reader further feel as if he/she is inside the story.
Wolff uses a wide range of qualities, but their goal is all the same: to make a character
more realistic in the mind of the reader. For example, after getting his first real fight
Wolff returned home to his less-than-mediocre stepfather, Dwight. After explaining the
whole story to him, Dwight's first words were "Who won?"(Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life
113). After reading this quote, the reader might think of Dwight as uncaring, immature,
or even bloodthirsty. Wolff uses many of these types of subtle, realistic characteristics
to create plausible qualities that assist in drawing the reader into the story.
The last major element that Wolff uses to his advantage are quandaries, or "tight
situations." Since many of the quandaries Wolff presents are foreign and never have been
(and probably never will be) experienced by the reader, he must link them by conveying
the feelings occurring in the scene. To cite an instance, during the start of his tour
Wolff trained to be a jump leader for paratroopers. On his first jump, Wolff was supposed
to wait for the yellow smoke before jumping. He instead saw black smoke, and being the
only smoke in the sky he gave the order to jump. As they got closer to the ground, Wolff
realized that the black smoke was actually smoke from a garbage-burning facility. Two
weeks after the two-mile trudge forward to real drop site, Wolff was sent back to Vietnam
(Tobias Wolff, In Pharaoh's Army 72-74). The emotions conveyed in this scene could be
loathing (toward the jump leader, Wolff), embarrassment (Wolff's), other others. The
point is that quandaries are yet another method that Wolff uses to draw the reader into
the story. Of course, all these elements would be useless without good writing
technique.
Wolff's writing style is one in its own, a masterpiece in itself. The two main elements
of his style are terseness and lucidity, both of which carry equal effect and importance
in Wolff's writings. Their effects on Wolff's pieces are ones of cleanliness; they make
his sentences and paragraphs flow more smoothly and they deliver the information in a
direct and concise fashion, which makes for easy reading. Lucidity and terseness are also
important because they play a large part in drawing the reader into the story.
I believe all of Wolff's styles, concepts, and elements that were discussed in this paper
are what make him an excellent writer. But, even though I consider Tobias Wolff a
fantastic author and I tried my best to explain why and how he is fantastic, I believe
that to truly understand Mr. Wolff, you must read his works. Yes, I'm sure that is the
same for any author, but I believe it is more so for Tobias Wolff. He possesses some kind
of literary genius that cannot be explained in words, only in the emotions of the
readers. So, if you ever get the chance, please read some of Wolff's works and hopefully
then will the theories I explained become manifest in your mind.