Short Story #187: The Difficulty Crossing a Field by Ambrose Bierce
Title: The Difficulty Crossing a Field
Author: Ambrose Bierce
Summary
Williamson, a plantation owner walks across the street and into a field to go check on something. After crossing the street, he greets his neighbor who is passing by in a carriage and whose boy is looking out the back. Williamson continues into the field and very shortly after, the boy asks the father where Williamson has gone. It becomes clear to everyone involved that he has disappeared. Despite an investigation, no body is found and though some imply that the slaves played a role in it, nothing comes of the suspicion.
Williamson, a plantation owner walks across the street and into a field to go check on something. After crossing the street, he greets his neighbor who is passing by in a carriage and whose boy is looking out the back. Williamson continues into the field and very shortly after, the boy asks the father where Williamson has gone. It becomes clear to everyone involved that he has disappeared. Despite an investigation, no body is found and though some imply that the slaves played a role in it, nothing comes of the suspicion.Reflection
A curious and brief tale of a disappearance before everyone's eyes. The story itself is of not much consequence but the display of race and racial limitations in how the slaves are represented and denied a degree of voice equal to the whites.
Short Story #187 out of 365
Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)
Date Read: 7/2/2014
Source: The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce, compiled by Ernest Jerome Hopkins. Bison Books, 1984. The full works of Ambrose Bierce, including this story can be found here on Archive.org.
For a full listing of all the short stories in this series, check out the category 365 Short Stories a year.
Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
For a full listing of all the short stories in this series, check out the category 365 Short Stories a year.
Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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