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As a child traveling with his mother to escape the problems caused by her former relationship, Tobias Wolff was a child that lacked, not only identity, but also the power to do what he wanted. Soon after leaving Wolff made a deal with his mother that he would change his name to Jack, which helped him secure the identity that his parental troubles had helped lose. Once the pair arrived in Utah his mother’s boyfriend gave Jack the present of a Winchester rifle which in time would be one of Jack’s main sources of power. Shortly after receiving the rifle Jack described himself as needing “that rifle, for itself and for the way it completed me when [he] held it” (23). The emotion that Jack shows toward the rifle in this statement shows the renewed confidence and control that Jack feels when he has it at his disposal.

The longer Jack was exposed to the Winchester, the more addicted he became to this sensation of power, and the further he went to exploit it. This buildup of desire to express that new power he had, reached a breaking point when, after previously only romping around the house with the rifle in hand, he shot a squirrel from the porch of his home. While he did not receive any consequences for this mistake, it did scare him away from the Winchester for a while only to be lulled back to it by the added comfort it gave him in difficult situations.

Jack kept the rifle close during the next couple of years because of the comfort, power, and protection it represented regarding himself as a child and his mother as a woman in a generally weak role. This lasted until his new stepfather Dwight traded it for a very poor quality hunting dog while Jack was at school. This represented the transfer of power from Jake to Dwight and the new hardships that would ensue.