Ambrose Bierce The Boarded Window

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842– after December 26, 1913) was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist. Today, he is best known for his short story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and his satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary. The sardonic view of human nature that informed his work – along with his vehemence as a critic, with his motto "nothing matters" – earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce." Despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, Bierce was known to encourage younger writers, including poet George Sterling and fiction writer W. C. Morrow. Bierce employed a distinctive style of writing, especially in his stories. This style often

“There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs.” This is a quote from George R.R. Martin, an American novelist and short story writer. This quote captures the concept that Ambrose Bierce presents in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Throughout this story, it is clear that Bierce is not keen on war. Bierce is not keen on war and believes it strips the humanity out of people.

Ambrose Bierce was born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs County, Ohio. He later disappeared in Chihuahua, Mexico while traveling to gain first hand experience. It is believed that he died there at around the year 1914. He grew up poor, but his parents, who were also writers, inspired him to create a passion for reading and writing. Later on in his life, Bierce enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil war. One battle that really inspired Bierce to write short stories was the Battle of Shiloh; from there, he wrote the memoir “What I Saw of Shiloh”. On

The title plays an important role in catching the reader’s attention. If the title is interesting or compelling enough, one will be motivated to read it; otherwise, the story may never be read, resulting in a loss to both the author and the reader. In Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the author grabs the reader’s attention with a “creepy” title, indicating a bad happening on the Owl Creek Bridge. Peyton Farquhar, a planter who supports the Southern cause during the Civil War, is on the brink of execution by hanging. The title sets the eerie tone of the story, which appears to be about a hanging, and the setting, which appears to be a bridge.

While helping the sheriff in Quitman he was lured over the county line by a group of outlaws who ambushed him and shot him in the back. After recovering he returned to newspaper work in Tyler, Texas. He ran his

He had a hard time finding work due to his injuries. His wife and children soon left him. He became an alcoholic and died in 1929. His family thought he was buried at a grave in Albany. His relatives finally found out that he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery and that there was a giant

And what happens to his wife is then some sort of punishment , or a revenge taken by civilization and nature” (Goldfarb 12). Bierce always had a big twist at the end of the story, he bassed almost all of his story out of the war he was in back in the time. “Ambrose Bierce's short story, ‘The Boarded Window’ is an example of his skillful use of an unreliable narrator to self-consciously illustrated the working of the oral tradition in the creation of ghost stories. The literal device of the unreliable narrator refers to stories in which the teller of the tale is not to trusted to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” (Korb 14). Bierce had written story of mostly terror and had a really big twist at the end of the story, he based them out of things he had seen in war and those things were not pleasant to

‘My fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it’ (Page 20)

“He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…”

On September 24, 1856, he began a journey from his land in eastern Contra Costa County to San Francisco for a personal or political appointment. On his way to Pacheco he was ambushed and murdered by three of his vaquero employees over a argument about their wages.

As he spoke, the power went out. “so how wa-.” He was interrupted by the darkness. John soon spoke in a concerned manner. “The power.” With this, Milo responded. “went out, so what?” John responded yet again with “The way it went out. Not normal.No explosion, no rain, no storm.” Now, the two of them didn’t hear soft footsteps coming from inside the window in the upstairs bedroom because of their useless babbling. They were rhythmic, almost tap-dancing in a way. So this creature walked downstairs ever so

The escalation of the unknown sounds grew to be too distressing for John and Margaret when one night they were jarred awake by an unseen force. They felt the floorboards moving beneath their feet, along with unknown knocking sounds. The noises persisted until they finally fell asleep from exhaustion. Fatigued from these disturbances, they woke the next morning wanting answers.

On April 19, 1861, an 18-year-old boy from southern Ohio enlisted into the 9th Indiana Volunteers to join the Civil War. Many knew him as Ambrose Bierce. His family were strong abolitionists and his uncle even supplied John Brown with weapons during his crusade in Kansas (McWilliams). His experience in the war and the opinions he formed throughout this time period changed the way he viewed many everyday occurrences around him. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Bierce uses his views on the war to thematically shape the story by using bias towards one side, using historically correct actions and descriptions, and creating a sense of theme by conveying literary devices to pull readers in.

“He disappeared without a trace in Mexico at age 71 while reporting on Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution” (Moore

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has a very high level of tension throughout the entire narrative. In this story, Bierce takes readers through an outrageous series of events in which Peyton Farquhar is supposedly escaping his execution. Because of Bierce’s excellent use of literary techniques throughout the narrative such as the choice of setting, imagery, and point of view, suspense is created and maintained throughout the story and readers are led to believe that the man will ultimately escape his death.