English 11 Mr. Van Camp Rolf Gotzes                                                                        October 17^th 2014

Bluffing

The short story “Bluffing” written by Gail Helgason is about a couple encountering a bear in the woods and resulting in the boyfriend getting hospitalized with serious injuries. Liam, a man with “thick black hair as fashionably as ever” is not telling the truth to his girlfriend. He is lying because he is selfish and only wants to save himself which ultimately backfires on him ang gets him hospitalized with “skin [that] is all puffed up, mottled, with ridges of shiny, rubbery scar tissue crisscrossing like tributaries on a map”. He can be considered selfish because he lies to the other hikers that they meet, stating that it “might not be such a good idea” “[to go] up to the lake” because there is a “grizzly”. He does that just so he can have the lake for himself. Another reason showing that he is selfish is, that he “[spends] most of his money and outdoor gear” instead of sharing money with his girlfriend for “the lease”.  Another time where his selfishness shows is, when his girlfriend encounters the bear and instead of helping her, he runs “away as fast as he could”. Which means that he only cares for his own life and wants only his life to be safe. He doesn’t care what happens to his girlfriend at that time and he is running as if his life depends on it.