Essay on Cynicism in Works of Ambrose Bierce

The author was very heavy in the Pathos category. He invested strongly in using stories and vivid language to get their point across to the readers. For example, in paragraph 4 the author talked about living north of New York City. Talking about how most of the vehicles people would see on the road would be an SUV or a light truck. They went on saying

Through an intellectual lense he is able to add to the story in which it feels less like a prose piece and more like an extension of the manuscript we may have actually stumbled apon. It is told through logic rather then emotion, like a news segment, where all the events are laid out to the reader, then afterwards you are able to react. The rare thing this story is able to do, which is inflict personal fear into the readers minds makes it a terror story. In the end he reveals the uncle

Only once or twice was there a dramatic touch. It was a repulsive, sickening, nauseating story, but he conveyed it as meekly as the simplest chronicle of the utmost common episode of the most ordinary reality. He was neither an egotist nor an adulator. He neither bragged of his horrendous offenses nor sobbed in fake regret and shame.

The way William Golding writes in such description and brutal honesty allows the reader to place themself in the book and experience the world inside of the pages. The dedicated novelist uses description to his advantage when laying out scenes and conveying feelings towards the reader. Golding is also not afraid to be honest. He speaks the truth, even if it is brutal or grim, and is in no way forgiving about it. The essence in which Golding uses these techniques puts the reader in the book, living out the events.

Ambrose Bierce is a phenomenal author who has been heavily influenced by what he endured in the civil war. Peter J Marrone is quoted with saying, "Ambrose Bierce's martial experience as a Union soldier in the American Civil War proved to be the seminal episode indelibly impacting his philosophical, political, and cultural perspectives that would charge his literary constructions throughout his career." War between nations, war between states or war between your very own neighbor, war is something that has influenced a nations people. While war between nations is inarguably destructive to a nation, it is impossible to ignore the influence of war between the citizens of the same country. An excellent example of an individual heavily influenced by civil war, who chose to portray this influence in writing is Ambrose Bierce. In his most widely known work "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the author makes great use of appearance

Writers who see by the light of their Christian faith will have, in these times, the sharpest eye for the grotesque, for the perverse, and for the unacceptable…. To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures. —Flannery O’Connor, “The Fiction Writer and His Country”1

He shows little emotion when talking of Peyton's experience with the union soldier and his background but describes him as believing “no service was too humble for him...no adventure to perilous for him to undertake…(Bierce)”. This is one of the closest ways Bierce inserts a type of tone although he describes his character with a hint of sincerity. Throughout the story Ambrose once again lacks emotion to the character or events but only tells the story with a story readers tone. This plays a part in the theme as no one can trust a person that one is just meeting (like Peyton and the union soldier) and believe that they mean no harm. Bierce continues to describe Farquhar's personality as carefree yet troublesome as he does not always think through his actions and has many occasions where he averts himself from fighting for the southern advantage. Towards the middle of the story, Bierce explains how “circumstances of an imperious nature...had prevented him from taking service with the gallant party…(Bierce)” Farquhar had prevented himself from joining his beloved army as he composes an erratic behavior at any given moment. It relates to the theme once again as he could not trust himself before the situation had arisen and during the

Overall, Bierce’s choice of actual structure paved a way for an entirely new style of writing stories, movies, etc. The way he told us nothing about the character at the beginning of the story, then used

The author skeptical of the effects of war. Many people have a positive look on war and that good comes out of it, but Bierce writes of a man killed with his innocence. Bierce writes of a man who is betrayed and set up for a crime that he did not commit, and then pays for the crime by being hung then dying. The author is not one who thinks that war has a positive outcome, but is against it and tells of a man of innocents being killed. The author details out the scene of Peyton’s hanging in order to show the reader the harshness of the punishment: “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back his wrists bound with a cord”(481). This sets the scene for the story because in the author's description sympathy is shown towards the man. His feelings toward the innocence of the man are strongly involved in his describing of the man near death. The author gives a vivid description of the man of innocence with his suffering death to show his skeptical feelings toward war and that outcomes it can bring. The author uses the technique of stream of consciousness to show that Peyton was so determined to make home, but in fact dies for something he did not do: “He stands at the gate of his own home. All as he left it, bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine...At the bottom of the steps

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.

Ambrose Bierce was known as the “mist of light”. His stories were usually centered on civil war. It was usually a horror or supernatural story, but it could be a comic or tall-tale as well. Bierce’s “Chickamauga” is nothing short of a horror story. This story is known as one of the most powerful anti-war stories, and fits in with the literary criticism New Historicism. It is about a young boy around the age of 6 years, whose father had fought in the Civil War. We later find out that the young boy is deaf and mute. This, and him being only 6 years of age, causes him to be naïve about the things he sees in the forest one day when he gets lost.

Also key to Bierce’s success in this short story is his method of characterizing Peyton Farquhar. The

Ambrose Bierce was an American Civil War soldier, journalist, and author. He was born on the twenty forth of June 1842, in Meigs County, Ohio. He fought in the American Civil War where he suffered a near fatal injury and was inspired to write several of his short stories. After the war he became a successful journalist, and later, an author. He is believed to have died in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1904. Bierce is one of the most well known authors in American history, writing stories that are both interesting and horrifying. Bierce was, perhaps, one of the most influential authors in modern horror and suspense.

In 1861, the United States fought a Civil War between the north and south. During this conflict family and friends were torn apart in allegiance between the two. This bloody war lasted for four years and gave way to horrific battles. During this time a man named Ambrose Bierce joined the 9th Indiana volunteers and was seriously wounded at the battle of Kennesaw mountain. Few years after the end of the civil war Bierce would write a book called Civil War Stories. In this book Bierce would take an opposite approach to his and others in this war. Most books in that time would glorify generals and great battles won. But Bierce would focus on the real battles and relate with the common soldier and the horrendous conditions and the repercussions

Ambrose Bierce seems to take pleasure in that last-sentence-revelation, the shocking and jarring ending, that buzzer beater fatality. His A Horseman in the Sky is no exception. Bierce, with his pessimism and sharp irony, weaves a tale of ever increasing tension and moral ambiguity that culminates in patricide. Bierce, having been a Union officer in the Civil War, lends his own experience to this short but powerful story. Through a strong use of irony and conflict, both external and psychological, Ambrose Bierce’s “A Horseman in the Sky” explores the deteriorating effects belligerence can have on the concept of loyalty.