Choose an answer and hit 'next'. The all-knowing narrator, who confesses he is merely retelling a story first told to him by his grandfather, tells the tale. English, science, history, and more. However, “at that moment,” Bierce writes, there “came in through the open window a long, wailing sound like the cry of a lost child in the far deeps of the darkening wood! From the throat, dreadfully lacerated, had issued a pool of blood not yet entirely coagulated. From the throat, dreadfully lacerated, had issued a pool of blood not yet entirely 's' : ''}}. Illuminating Supernatural Fiction, Horror, and the Gothic, Ambrose Bierce's The Boarded Window: A Two-Minute Summary and a Literary Analysis. Use this lesson to complete the following objectives: {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | As with so many of his stories, the payoff comes from a twist ending and a moment of dramatic irony, yet little has been said about it other than to say that it merits the attention of high school students because it has a great ending. In the morning he is awoken by bird songs and fearfully looks up to find his wife’s corpse: “The body lay near the window, where the beast had left it when frightened away by the flash and report of the rifle. The story tells of a man named Murlock who lived alone in his cabin and was found dead one day. Just as no one in the present remembers a time when it wasn't boarded up nor why, and no one knows Murlock anymore. This Study Guide consists of approximately 40 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - He stares at the window before him, but can see hardly anything out of the dusky pane. Again, and nearer than before, sounded that unearthly cry upon his failing sense. Murlock is jolted out of his primeval dreamland by a sudden crash and rattle. One day he returned from a hunting trip to find her struck down with a raging fever, and although he tried to nurse her back to health, she wasted and sweated away on her death bed in their woodland cabin. And you can find our annotated and illustrated collection of Bierce's best horror HERE! What is so shocking about the ending of ''The Boarded Window''? His reaction is not to embrace her or rejoice, but to seize his rifle and blindly fire it. Like in “Eyes of the Panther,” the mountain lion is used as a metaphor for mankind’s animal nature – which calls soothingly to Murlock in the night as he dreams over his wife’s corpse, and comes as if summoned to stifle her once and for all as soon as she shows signs of revival. But the man did not move. Poe’s tales naturally provided the motif of the premature burial: stories like “The House of Usher,” “Berenice,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Black Cat,” and – of course – “The Premature Burial” involve the conscious or unconscious interment of a living person or animal, either as an act of murder or due to the disguise of epilepsy (or in Roderick Usher’s case, both). This kind of narrative sets a tone of suspense and foreboding. The catalyst for the story is a boarded up window in Murlock's home, which is also a symbol for Murlock himself. Murlock’s boarding over of it may at first seem like a simple defense against further panthers. But this is too simple for Bierce: it isn’t boarded over to keep out animals of the forest, but animals of the mind. The building is unique because its window had been inexplicably boarded up many years ago after his wife’s death, and the story behind it is the cause of controversy. So what is going on in “The Boarded Window”? The narrator tells the reader that this is all the known facts of the story, but there are some whispers about what had happened. When he sees the panther gripping her body by the throat, he is forced to recognize his own repressed animalism and his own denied contentment with her death. The setting for the story, a frontier town in the early to mid 1800s, is also reflective of his adventuresome lifestyle. In The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce we have the theme of isolation, loneliness, hope, grief, failure and guilt. As with so many of his stories, the payoff comes from a twist ending and a moment of dramatic irony, yet little has been said about it other than to say that it merits the attention of high school students because it has a great ending. Murlock is actually a shape shifter who turns into a panther on full moons. Take the quiz to assess your comprehension of: See what more topics you can review from this story by accessing the lesson, The Boarded Window Summary. While they seemed to have a generally healthy marriage, the woods does strange things to couples. Services, Quiz & Worksheet - The Boarded Window Plot, {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}}, Ambrose Bierce: Biography, Facts & Disappearance, The Boarded Window Comprehension Questions, The Death of Halpin Frayser: Summary & Analysis, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Imagery & Symbolism, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Characters & Conflict, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Foreshadowing & Irony, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Point of View & Tone, Chickamauga by Ambrose Bierce: Summary & Analysis, A Horseman in the Sky: Summary & Conflict, A Horseman in the Sky: Foreshadowing & Point of View, A Horseman in the Sky: Setting & Characters, Working Scholars® Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community, Why the ending of this story is so shocking, How the narrator knows about the secret to why the window of Murlock's cabin was boarded, The work Murlock does in preparation for his wife's burial, Where Murlock places his wife's body before he buries her, Recognize a line that foreshadows the ending and illustrates Bierce's writing style.

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