Unseen commentary on an extract from "Killed at Resaca" by Ambrose Bierce.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Unseen Commentary

Killed at Resaca by Ambrose Bierce

The excerpt is from 'Killed at Resaca' by Ambrose Bierce which was written in 1881. Given its date of publication and the knowledge that it follows the American Civil War in 1862; after an analysis of the text we can deduce that it is a work of fiction. Initially the extract positions the reader in the middle of a bloody battlefield where a valiant soldier; Herman Brayle meets his end. His death concludes the battle his comrades and his enemy honour his death, the battle had left behind a trail of bereavement of ordinary people. The narrator is delegated with Brayle's personal belongings-a Russian leather pocketbook. After this the text shifts to a different period, a time space of one year. The narrator finally inspects the pocketbook and discovers a love letter for the lieutenant, from his lover Marian Mendenhall. After his the narrator arrives to California at the home of Miss Mendenhall. The narrator hands over the honoured lieutenant's pocketbook to Miss Mendenhall, in return she cold-heartedly threw into the hearth. The extract ends with the narrator lying about the death of his lieutenant responding by saying "he