This Boy's Life Text Response

[purplegiraffe]

Hi all! If anyone is willing to mark my essay that would be fantastic!

Jack is both attracted to and repelled from violence. What role does violence play in Wolff’s memoir?

Every person wants to be in control of their own life and the things that happen to them. Tobias Wolff is no exception. Tobias feels so powerless over his own life that he becomes attracted to power. Tobias comes to learn from those around him that to be in a place of control, violence is necessary. He carries out this violent learnt behaviour throughout his childhood through the use of guns and physical fighting with those around him. Through the use of violence, Tobias never comes closer to controlling his life and eventually realises that he can be in control without posing the threat of violence.

Jack was an impressionable young boy, who looked to any older male in his life for guidance. In the memoir, Wolff describes his encounters and relationships with Roy and Dwight and the violent behaviour they modelled. Roy first introduced Jack to guns, and even gave him his first gun, the Winchester .22 rifle. Jack said that it “completed” him when he held it. At this point in his life, Roy is essentially the only father figure Jack has had. Jack learnt from Roy that a gun was to be desired as with a gun held complete power over the individual it was pointing at. Jack thought that Roy was “what a man should be”. Later in the memoir, Jack encounters a new father figure: Dwight. Dwight was a menacing character who was always cruel to Jack and bullied everyone that he wanted to control. So when Jack fought with Arthur, he was ready to put on an “innocent” face when Dwight walked into his room. However, Dwight asked “Who won?”. For the first time, Dwight was interested in Jack, and not in a way where he was throwing insults. This action from Dwight showed Jack that he could obtain respect by committing acts of violence, and although Jack did not agree with this behaviour, he did anything to ‘survive’ in the house. When at the ‘Grudge Fight’, Jack felt that Dwight was “smiling down at me with recognition… and something like love”. This even further demonstrates that Jack seeks acceptance from a male figure, as he wishes to be seen a masculine. For Jack, violence is a tool learnt from male role models that can help exert power over someone, and help to gain acceptance.

Jack carried out violent and delinquent behaviour throughout his childhood. When he was younger and living in Utah, Jack would dress up in Roy’s army clothes and take out his rifle. With successive actions, Jack eventually went from marching around the room with the empty gun to shooting a squirrel through the window. Jack explained that he “had to shoot”. During this time, he would also point the barrel and unsuspecting people walking past, who had no idea of what Jack was doing. “I sometimes had to bite my lip to keep from laughing in the ecstasy of my power over them”. Later, when living in Chinook under the house of Dwight, Jack became involved in physical fights, mostly with Arthur Gale. Under the guidance of Dwight, Jack fought with Gale and “landed one on his eye”. Later, as Arthur’s and Jack’s relationship begun to disintegrate they began to fight one another, “shoving matches”, as Wolff explained it.

Although Jack exhibits violent behaviour, the reader does not think that Jack is a violent person. This is shown through the squirrel incident. After shooting the squirrel, Jack and his mother held a burial for the creature. Wolff said he “blubbered the whole time”. This action not only shows remorse for what he had done, but extreme guilt. Later Jack stated that he could “forgive myself for most things, but not cruelty”. This explicitly states that deep down, Jack is repelled by cruelty and violence, and even more appalled at himself for committing such an act. When Jack initially fights with Arthur he admits that he was “ready to stop” and did not want to continue. He only initially started the fight because we wanted to fit in with the boys he was hanging around with. If he were on his own, no fight would have occurred.

In “This Boy’s Life”, Jack is attracted to power because he wishes for control over his own life. However, he is repelled by violence. Yes, Jack does commit seemingly violent acts such as the shooting of the squirrel and fighting with Arthur Gale, however he is completely regretful and ashamed of his actions. This demonstrates that Jack is not violent in nature, and instead demonstrates this somewhat cruel behaviour in the hope that he will become a conventional man with the ability to fit in.