One of the Missing

Last updated May 04, 2021

"One of the Missing" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on March 11, 1888 and was reprinted in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891).^[1]

Summary

The story is set in the American Civil War. Jerome Searing is an orderly for the Union Army. His general sends him on a mission to scout ahead and make sure that there are no surprises waiting for them. This is a typical mission for Jerome and he takes delight and care in scouting ahead.

Jerome comes upon a plantation and can see the Confederate Army in retreat. He takes aim to shoot one of them ("it is the business of a soldier to kill") but at the same time, a captain far off shoots a cannon at the structure that Jerome is hiding in. When Jerome comes to, he is partially buried in the debris and finds himself incapable of moving his body because of the way the debris covers him.

As he examines his surroundings and options, Jerome realizes that his rifle is pointed right at him. He anticipates it going off at any minute since it was primed to fire before the explosion. He tries to distract himself from the metal ring facing him with other thoughts and even by closing his eyes but every time he closes his eyes, he feels the bullet burying into him.

Eventually, Jerome finds a loose board that he tries to use to block the gun but when that is ineffective and he has lost all hope, he uses the board to help pull the trigger. The gun doesn't go off; it was fired when the building collapsed. His death could be from a range of different causes depending on speculation.

After hearing the explosion, his brother Adrian is ordered to move forward and explore the area that Jerome has scouted. As his party passes the destroyed building, they see a body in the wreckage but the debris has tinted his Federal coat gray and the state of death hints that the body had been dead so long that none of them realize who they are looking at.

Analysis

The last section of the story, dealing with the protagonist's brother, was originally split into two parts, with the first part inserted in the middle of the narrative.^[2] The story was rewritten by Bierce for his Collected Works in order to highlight the subjective perception of time: what had seemed to the protagonist like hours of torture was actually a mere twenty-two minutes.^[3] This notion is also dramatised in Bierce's most successful story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".

"One of the Missing" shows influence of Maupassant's war story "Two Friends". Jerome finds himself in the position of a Confederate soldier that he thought to kill seconds before the explosion, just like the two fishers in Maupassant's story suddenly find themselves as helpless and doomed as the fish they caught: "seized by chance and subject to the bidding of a more powerful entity".^[2] Both stories spotlight the capriciousness and absurdity of war.

Related Research Articles

The Devil's Dictionary is a satirical dictionary written by American Civil War soldier, journalist, and writer Ambrose Bierce consisting of common words followed by humorous and satirical definitions. The lexicon was written over three decades as a series of installments for magazines and newspapers. Bierce's witty definitions were imitated and plagiarized for years before he gathered them into books, first as The Cynic's Word Book in 1906 and then in a more complete version as The Devil's Dictionary in 1911.

"An Unfinished Race" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. The story, dealing with a mysterious disappearance of a man, was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on October 14, 1888 and was included in Bierce's collection Can Such Things Be? (1893). Bierce himself mysteriously disappeared in October 1914.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by the American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce. Described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", it was originally published by The San Francisco Examiner on July 13, 1890, and was first collected in Bierce's book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891). The story, which is set during the American Civil War, is known for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is an early example of the stream of consciousness narrative mode.

"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in the San Francisco Newsletter of December 25, 1886 and was later reprinted as part of Bierce's collections Tales of Soldiers and Civilians and Can Such Things Be?

"Deux amis" or "Two Friends" is a short story by the French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1882. The story is set in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, when the city lay under siege. The story examines French bravery, German stereotypes and, unusually for Maupassant, discusses the nature and justification of war in the form of a conversation between the two protagonists.

The 9th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was organized on April 22, 1861, for three-months' service in Indianapolis. After being reorganized for three years' service in late August and early September 1861, the 9th took part in many major battles, including Shiloh, Stones River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Kennesaw Mountain and the Siege of Atlanta.

"A Horseman in the Sky" is a heavily anthologized short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was published on April 14, 1889 under the title The Horseman in the Sky in the Sunday edition of The Examiner, a San Francisco newspaper owned by William Randolph Hearst. It is set during the American Civil War and is one of Bierce's best known war stories. Bierce revised the story for his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.

Ambrose Bierce American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and Civil War veteran. His book The Devil's Dictionary was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature"; and his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.

"The Damned Thing" is a horror short story written by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in Town Topics on December 7, 1893.

Tales of Soldiers and Civilians is a collection of short stories by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce, also published under the title In the Midst of Life. With a stated publication date of 1891 the stories describe unusual incidents in the lives of soldiers and civilians during the American Civil War. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900, stating "These short stories are among the finest, and best known, in American literature. ... Written in a clear simple style, with each phrase contributing to the total effect, Bierce's tales pointed the way for the American short-story writer." Bierce's famous story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is included in this collection.

"The Moonlit Road" is a gothic horror short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in a 1907 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, illustrated by Charles B. Falls. This story is presented in three parts and relates the tale of the murder of Julia Hetman from the perspective of her son, a man who may be her husband, and Julia herself, through a medium.

"Killed at Resaca" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. First published in The San Francisco Examiner on June 5, 1887, it was later included in Bierce's Tales of Soldiers and Civilians in 1891.

"The Man and the Snake" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It tells of a man who dies of fright inspired by a toy snake with buttons for eyes. The story was published in The San Francisco Examiner on June 29, 1890.

"The Eyes of the Panther" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce featuring a female werepanther. It was published in The San Francisco Examiner on 17 October, 1897 before appearing in his 1898 collection In the Midst of Life.

"The Boarded Window: An Incident in the Life of an Ohio Pioneer" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on April 12, 1891 and was reprinted the same year in Bierce's collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. The setting for the story is that part of Ohio where Bierce's family lived until 1846.

"One of Twins" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce exploring a telepathic connection between the twins. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on October 28, 1888 and was included in Bierce's 1893 collection of supernatural tales Can Such Things Be?

"A Tough Tussle" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was published on the first page of the Sunday supplement to The San Francisco Examiner on September 30, 1888 and was reprinted in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891).

"The Spook House" is a Gothic short story of a haunted house by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in The San Francisco Examiner on July 7, 1889.

"The Realm of the Unreal" is a short story by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It appeared in The San Francisco Examiner on July 20, 1890 and was reprinted in the 1893 collection Can Such Things Be?

The Hazen Brigade Monument at Stones River National Battlefield, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is the oldest American Civil War monument remaining in its original battlefield location.

References

↑ Grenander, Mary Elizabeth. Ambrose Bierce. Twayne Publishers, 1971. P. 175.
1 2 Fusco, Richard. Maupassant and the American Short Story: The Influence of Form at the Turn of the Century. Penn State University Press, 2010. ISBN 9780271041124. P. 71-72, 112.
↑ Morris, Roy. Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company. Oxford University Press, 1995. P. 87.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Grenander, Mary Elizabeth. Ambrose Bierce. Twayne Publishers, 1971. P. 175.

[fusco-2] 1 2 Fusco, Richard. Maupassant and the American Short Story: The Influence of Form at the Turn of the Century. Penn State University Press, 2010. ISBN 9780271041124. P. 71-72, 112.

[3] Morris, Roy. Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company. Oxford University Press, 1995. P. 87.

[1]

[2]

[3]