Finished Synopsis

Synopsis

I have chosen the question "Discuss the representations of the American Civil War in the stories of Ambrose Bierce". This allows me to present Bierce's own representations of the War, and the differing perspectives of Bierce's work through others. The works of Bierce that are most focussed on are 'One of the Missing', 'A Tough Tussle', 'What I Saw of Shiloh', 'Story of a Conscience', 'A Little of Chickamauga' and 'An Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge' amongst others.

This question came to light after I discovered that evaluating the perspectives of others on the topic of Bierce's disappearance in late 1913 or early 1914 was not suitable. My teacher guided me to this conclusion. Discussing the representations of Bierce's work allows me to mention his disappearance, though only in the literary context. This conveys how his work and his life has been adapted to other forms of text.

I decided that I should review Bierce's own work and provide the genuine historical details in my essay. I researched the particulars to ensure that they were fact, which they were. I also included fictional extracts to contrast and compare the historical notes. Other sources were used to show how the representations of the war in Bierce's stories were perceived by historians such as Roy Morris Jr. and other writers.

My essay answers the question through conveying an element of my opinion of the short stories and the opinions of others as mentioned previously. The opinions are intended as a factual assumption which is attempted to be as little biased as possible.