Ambrose Bierces Ise of Flashbacks and the Supernatural in his Short Stories :: essays papers

Ambrose Bierces Ise of Flashbacks and the Supernatural in his Short StoriesAMBROSE BIERCES USE OF FLASHBACKS AND THE magical IN HIS SHORT STORIESAmbrose Bierce is known for using both flashbacks and the supernatural in his in short stories An Occurrence at Owl Creek yoke and The devastation of Haplin Frayser. Bierce was born on June 24, 1842, in House Cave Creek, Meigs County, Ohio. He withaldisappe ared in Mexico while acting as an observer of that countrys civil state of war in January1, 1914. Beirces literary reputation is based primarily on his short stories about the Civil War and the supernatural. Mancken considered him to be the First writer of legend ever to treat war realistically. Bierce grew up around the military, he entered a military academy in his teen years and then posterior on in his life was mired in war. He was involved in the U.S. Army, served with the Ninth Indiana Infantry Regiment as a drummer boy and Buells Army of the Ohio. Many believe Bierce wro te about wars so realistically because he experienced war first hand. Many of Bierces works are compared to Edgar Allan Poe because their stories share an attraction to death in its more bizarre forms. Bierce as well worked as a novelist, journalist, poet, essayist, and a critic. Bierce has also written many early(a) works which include The Devils Dictionary, The Secret of Macargers Gulch and The Middle Toe of the right Foot.In the short apologue An Occurrance atOwl Creek Bridge Bierce uses flashbacks ofthe s honest-to-godiers in war to descibe what happened to them throught out the course of war. Many of the soldiers have scary flash backs. In the short fib An Occurrance at OwlCreek Bridge Bierce describes exactly what the soldiers went through in battle and gives details of deaths that happened. Although Beirces figures are not really welldeveloped in any of his short stories, each story expresses a deep psychological trauma,one that ends in madness or loss. In war the char acters become part of the military.Bierce either tells alot about the title-holder in his short stories or as little as he pleases. So the hero in An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge is a spy who is about to be hanged. In this short story many people take for granted the reason he is beingness hanged and what his beliefs are. Bierce provides the minimum of character description Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter of an old and highly respected Alabama family.