Bierce s Lessons On Life Essay - 1809 Words

Bierce’s Lessons on Life What is our purpose in life? How should we be living? How does war change that? In 1861 through 1865, a war divided the United States, and it claimed more American lives than any other war has taken: the Civil War. The north and south became distinctly different entities in a bloody battle (â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Historical Context†). 26 years later, Ambrose Bierce wrote a short story by the title of â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.† It is a story that explores the nature of war in order to give the audience advice on how life should be led. Using the narrative approach, readers can explore Bierce’s take on the human experience and how the life and untimely death of Peyton Farquhar reflects Bierce’s lessons on life. Bierce’s lessons are addressed by analyzing the author’s role in the story, how the setting ties into the overall message, the importance of the characters, the events and time frame in which they occur, the major themes in the story, the role of the audience, and lastly, the limitations of the story. Bierce also establishes ethos, logos, and pathos throughout the short story, which validates and strengthens the messages that he is trying to relay to the audience. Ambrose Bierce came from a family where many had a military history. During the Civil War, Bierce became a part of the Union and enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Infantry. Not only did he fight in many of the war’s well-known battles, but he also created strategicShow MoreRelated Analyses of Short Stories Essay examples4756 Words   |  20 Pagesinto Goodman Brown’s life. Goodman is pure going into the forest, but in a sense comes out of the forest somewhat evil. He comes back thinking he is better than everyone else and ends up isolating himself to lead a very lonely life. Source: Carlson, Alexa. Essay #1: Young Goodman Brown. www.crwl.utexas.edu Nathaniel Hawthorne, â€Å"My Kinsman, Major Molineaux† I read some information about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life and then thinking back to this story, I see his life somewhat reflectedRead MoreOrganizational Concepts Of Organizational Behavior2210 Words   |  9 Pagesgain something, each has some power, and there is interdependency. The process of negotiation involves listening to both sides, seeking out common areas of interest and agreement, and building on them so that individuals can understand each other s point of view. Varney believes there are four essential skills, team leaders need to learn and apply to effectively resolve disagreements using the negotiation process. A couple of strategies to enhance negotiation skills are â€Å"integrative and distributiveRead MorePre-Spanish Period8197 Words   |  33 PagesBackground Long before the Spaniards and other foreigners landed or set foot on Philippine shores, our forefathers already had their own literature stamped in the history of our race. Our ancient literature shows our customs and traditions in everyday life as traced in our folk stories, old plays and short stories. Our ancestors also had their own alphabet which was different from that brought by the Spaniards. The first alphabet used by our ancestor was similar to that of the Malayo-PolynesianRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesproblem without bringing in the most relevant information. This first chapter explains what it means to be logical—to reason logically. It demonstrates the usefulness of logical reasoning as a means to making more effective decisions about your own life—decisions about what to believe and decisions about what to do. The chapter begins a systematic program of study of all the major topics regarding logical reasoning. Along the way, the book focuses on developing the following five skills: (1) writing