Ambrose Bierce the Man and the Snake - 3060 Words

Ambrose Bierce The Man and the Snake 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 Devils 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†¦show more content†¦Druring, the distinguished scientist. Dr. Drurings house, a large, old-fashioned one in what was now an obscure quarter of the city, had an outer and visible aspect of reserve. It plainly would not associate with the contiguous elements of its altered environment, and appeared to have developed some of the eccentricities which come of isolation. One of these was a wing, conspicuously irrelevant in point of architecture, and no less rebellious in the matter of purpose; for it was a combination of laboratory, menagerie, and museum. It was here that the doctor indulged the scientific side of his nature in the study of such forms of animal life as engaged his interest and comforted his taste--which, it must be confessed, ran rather to the lower forms. For one of the higher types nimbly and sweetly to recommend itself unto his gentle senses, it had at least to retain certain rudimentary characteristics allying it to such dragons of the prime as toads and snakes. His scientific sympathies were distinctly reptilian; he loved natures vulgarians and described himself as the Zola of zoology. His wife and daughters, not having the advantage to share his enlightened curiosity regarding the works and ways of our ill-starred fellow-cr eatures, were, with needless austerity, excluded from what heShow MoreRelatedPyschoanalytic Personalities Essay Notes9106 Words   |  37 Pageswith reserve or even distaste when he exhibits his overbearing attitude. This rejection in turn might increase his inner feelings of worthlessness, leading to even more aggressive compensation—and a maddening spiral has begun. As the satirist Ambrose Bierce put it in The Devil’s Dictionary (1911), an egotist is â€Å"A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.† The Evolution of Adler’s Theory Adler’s theory underwent a series of changes as his thoughts about human motivations changedRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pages.............................................................................................. 248 Fallacy of Circular Reasoning........................................................................................................... 250 Straw Man Fallacy.............................................................................................................................. 251 False Dilemma Fallacy........................................................................................