Horror and Suspense in Bierce's Work
A novel is divided into different chapters and usually has different
plots to focus on. In a novel there are lots of characters and the
time scale is constantly changing throughout. Because there is more
than one theme and there are different messages coming across of
combined themes, makes the novel denser and more complicated to
understand and to take in all the description.
Ambrose Bierce wrote a lot of short stories and some we have studied
and analysed. In a short story there is usually only one plot and the
event usually carries on in the same setting. There are usually a
couple of characters and one hidden message which makes the short
stories more to the point and very direct.
As I was analysing the short stories by Bierce, I realised that most
of the characters in them were male and most of the stories contained
physicians. Looking over Bierce’s background I was able to see that
Bierce was brought up in a male dominated area where women were
secondary characters. I assume this is why Bierce’s main characters
are male and the female characters only play a secondary part in the
setting.
He had a son who committed suicide and a son who drank himself to
death. I think this is why Bierce put physicians in most of his
stories. The physicians don’t know when the victims of the stories are
about to die, so maybe Bierce could relate to these because no
physician could warn him about his sons dying.
Throughout Bierce’s stories he has a good use of horror and suspense.
He does this by being very concise and to the point. He also makes
more impact on us as he uses pathetic thalacy. He does this by
describing the weather in such a way that reflects on the mood o...
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...he misery of others.’ This ties
in with us laughing at the misery of Henry Armstrong.
Others find it horrifying as they would be terrified of being buried
alive and in those days it was quite common for medical students to
dig up the corpses. This also ties in with Bierce’s definition of a
grave, which I also found in ‘The Devil’s Dictionary.’ A grave is a
place in which the dead are laid to await the coming of the medical
student.’
Reading these stories of Bierce’s I found to be very interesting and
thoroughly enjoyed. I think it is clear that Bierce was trying to
scare a lot of people and effectively did as the description, the
language used, the mixed feelings it sends out and the context of his
writing creates a lot of horror and suspense.
Some may say that Bierce is sick others say that he is very
intelligent. Bierce- brilliant or disturbed?
The authors, Ambrose Bierce of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' and Edger Allan Poe of 'The Tell Tale Heart' have unique styles to pull the reader into the story. Both authors use unreliable narrator and imagery to allow the reader to picture and follow the narrator's way of thinking. In the Tell Tale Heart, the man is very repetitious and his psychotic behavior is what intrigues the overall dark madness of The Tell Tale Heart. In Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Bierce uses illusions to allow the reader to follow wherever his ideas lead which also intrigues the overall dark madness effect.
One of the most famous authors in American history is Edgar Allen Poe, thanks to his intricate and unsettling short stories and poems. One of the strongest aspects of Poe’s writing style is the allure and complexity of the narrator of the story. These narrators, ranging from innocent bystanders to psychotic murderers, add depth to such a short story and really allow Poe to explore the themes of death and murder which he seems to have an unhealthy obsession towards. Furthermore, he uses these narrators to give a different perspective in each of his many works and to really unsettle the reader by what is occurring throughout the story. The narrators, whether an innocent witness of death as in "The Fall of the House of Usher" or a twisted murderer as in "The Cask of Amontillado" are used by Poe to discuss the themes of death and murder within these stories and, depending on their point of view, give a different take on such a despicable act such as murder.
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents, Marcus Aurelius Bierce and Laura Sherwood Bierce, had thirteen children, and Ambrose was the tenth of the thirteen. Ambrose’s idiosyncratic father decided to start the names of all thirteen of his children with the letter A. His family was poor, so his parents decided to move to Ohio, like many other families, in hopes that the westward expansion might help them financially. When they realized the riches they were in search of were not coming as readily as expected, they decided they should move. In 1846 the family moved again. This move was to Warsaw, India.
How Mary Shelley creates a sense of horror in Frankenstein. Frankenstein Introduction In this essay, I will be writing about how Mary Shelley creates sense. of horror in Frankenstein. Horror stories are usually dark and sinister.
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
In becoming a printers devil for a Northern Indianapolis Abolitionist Newspaper gave background for the interest in writing and the agreement in the Abolistionist view point.
In Victorian Britain deaths caused a great deal of sadness and pain to the person’s family mates and friends. Kids die at a young age so the children are very spoiled. Miners work in mining shafts, at factories, at mines, and more. The death of a loved one caused some people to not come out of there houses for at least two weeks. “Hospitals, rather than being seen as places of healing were more often viewed as the gateway of death (B. Malheiro).” This shows that the hospitals had lots of deaths in the hospitals and it was not a very safe place in Victorian Britain. Lots of accidental deaths happened around that time to with the factories and even farming. With all these deaths happening you can see how sad and tragic these deaths are, from and to see that the deaths are not the places you
Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.
Walking in the dark at night isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do. Stories would always be told that anything could happen, and so for most people watching a scary movie it would always make them jump. Being alone while watching a movie is totally not fun, so most of the time its groups of people going to see scary movies together. I get that craving horror is a thing that we as humans do, but not all claims could be true for why we like it. In Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror” and it being part of the Human Condition to crave horror, I feel as if Stephen King is telling the truth in the claims of being “mentally ill,” us getting that “adrenaline rush” through horror, but he is wrong about when we watch horror that we’re “facing our
...as. “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Purloined Letter”. Each of these tales have depth that explains the train of thought that one experiences in critical situations. The horror allows one to emotionally connect and observe the situation. The puzzling effect that Poe leaves one with really puts one in a rational state of mind that is needed in committing crimes. Finally, the psychological theme puts it all together as Poe gives a detailed path of mental positions and how they come about. As the reader goes on, he or she realizes that Poe uses indirect messages too. This is seen in “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Edgar Allan Poe uses the themes of terror, puzzles and psychology in his written adventures to show and prove that the human mind is something that is in constant change. Every action has a consequence.
Tension in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black" Tension is created in both Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Susan hills "the woman in black" but in a different way. In Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" tension is created by the settings, most horror story's are. Both novels create tension in there settings by using the power of imagination and the unknown. Central to both the plots is the idea of dreams and nightmares. Both Frankenstein and the women in black were set at night and both in isolated areas.
Edgar Allan Poe is regarded as an influential author to the genre of horror and gothic tales that suggest what is out there (Van Leer back cover). Poe is best known for his dark and gruesome images, centered on death in order to provide his readers a sense of terror within oneself by showcasing what one is capable of doing (Giammarco 5). These qualities are contributed in Poe’s short stories such as, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, ‘The Man of the Crowd’ and ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ as they all depict various characteristics of different individuals placed in society through the device of the narrator. Poe has faced many challenges in his life from an early age including loss, illness, a difficult upbringing and heavy gambling and drinking problems (Giammarco 4). Although, these tragic events helped Poe to become one of the most well known American Poets of the 19th century (Giammarco 6).
Edgar Allan Poe, “the father of the detective story” (“Edgar Allan Poe Biography”), was an American author and critic in the 1800’s. Unlike other authors of his time, Poe wrote depressing and morbid stories. Poe had a difficult life, which was shown in various works of his. Poe’s tragedies started when he was a toddler. Poe was an orphan, along with his older brother and infant sister. Sadly, Poe and his siblings were separated when they were toddlers. Unfortunately, Poe had an upbringing of death; his life was greatly affected by tuberculosis. In the 1800’s, tuberculosis killed 10,000 people per day (Baudelaire), among these people were Poe’s loved ones. Poe’s birth mother, Elizabeth; his foster mother, Frances; his brother, Henry; and his wife, Virginia died
The novel Frankenstein is a one of the first Gothic novels that entails both gothic and romantic elements in its plot. The novel explains how Victor creates Frankenstein, the process by which he collects body parts and how life is given to Frankenstein. Its plot is in old scary European buildings and is filled with war between good and evil. It also shows how the characters are able to connect both the mortal and supernatural world. This novel is about the war between good and evil that will eventually get to have Frankenstein on their side (Donawerth). On the other hand, the novel on Jane Eyre is a gothic novel that takes place in Europe. It is filled with old buildings and shows how a young orphaned Jane Eyre is neglected by her adopted family especially after her adopted father dies. She undergoes through periods of success and hurting in her life until she meets a man by the name Edward who later breaks her heart. This leads her to the quest of finding her spirituality (Adams). This novel shows how one gets to know their spirituality and how it leads to their strengths and succe...
also cause or hinder the actions of Frankenstein and his monster as they go on