Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce

Mark Twain

“The Art of Authorship”

I both agree and disagree with Twain’s view on the human mind. I agree that people are sometimes incapable of understanding certain concepts; however, I also believe that people often choose not to comprehend what they do not naturally understand. Without constantly exercising one’s mind, a person can easily become lazy and want only to think about what is already known or what is easily understood. Twain believes that the mind decides for the person what it wants and does not want to learn. I disagree with this thought. When he states, “Yes, and likely enough when the structure is at last pretty well up, and attracts attention, YOU feel complimented, whereas you didn’t build it, and didn’t even consciously superintend (407), he implies that we as humans take credit for our brains when we did not create them and have no control over them. Perhaps, Twain implicitly refers to God in his beliefs. In this case, I would agree with him more fully. Overall, this work encouraged me to think and solidified some of my own beliefs on the human mind.

“How to Tell a Story”

Through a series of humorous explanations and comical sample stories, Twain explains to the reader the dos and don’ts of telling a story. He describes the significance of the pause and stresses the importance of not laughing before the story is over (which is definitely something that I tend to do). I admire Twain’s humbleness when he states, “I do not claim that I can tell a story as it ought to be told (408). Just the sample stories that he chose as examples were funny enough. His choice of wording and overall style almost made his writing sound out of the page. I could easily imagine him telling the story with pauses and intonation. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this work and might actually consider his advice!


Ambrose Bierce

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

Bierce definitely tricks his readers in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” The descriptions of the scenery and emotions felt by Peyton Farquhar are so exact and realistic that it is hard to believe that most of the story is comprised of mere hallucinations. With such incredible talent, Bierce’s imagination and thoughts on the moments right before one’s death seem almost empirical. Almost every idea that Bierce supplies on the topic makes perfect sense; however, I am not sure that I would have been able to originate these thoughts and images on my own.