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One Summer Night

The fact that Henry Armstrong was buried did not seem to him to prove that he was dead: he had always been a hard man to convince. That he really was buried, the testimony of his senses compelled him to admit. His posture -- flat upon his back, with his hands crossed upon his stomach and tied with something that he easily broke without profitably altering the situation -- the strict confinement of his entire person, the black darkness and profound silence, made a body of evidence impossible to controvert and he accepted it without cavil.

But dead -- no; he was only very, very ill. He had, withal, the invalid's apathy and did not greatly concern himself about the uncommon fate that had been allotted to him. No philosopher was he -- just a plain, commonplace person gifted, for the time being, with a pathological indifference: the organ that he feared consequences with was torpid. So, with no particular apprehension for his immediate future, he fell asleep and all was peace with Henry Armstrong.

But something was going on overhead. It was a dark summer night, shot through with infrequent shimmers of lightning silently firing a cloud lying low in the west and portending a storm. These brief, stammering illuminations brought out with ghastly distinctness the monuments and headstones of the cemetery and seemed to set them dancing. It was not a night in which any credible witness was likely to be straying about a cemetery, so the three men who were there, digging into the grave of Henry Armstrong, felt reasonably secure.

Two of them were young students from a medical college a few miles away; the third was a gigantic negro known as Jess. For many years Jess had been employed about the cemetery as a man-of-all-work and it was his favourite pleasantry that he knew 'every soul in the place.' From the nature of what he was now doing it was inferable that the place was not so populous as its register may have shown it to be.

Outside the wall, at the part of the grounds farthest from the public road, were a horse and a light wagon, waiting.

The work of excavation was not difficult: the earth with which the grave had been loosely filled a few hours before offered little resistance and was soon thrown out. Removal of the casket from its box was less easy, but it was taken out, for it was a perquisite of Jess, who carefully unscrewed the cover and laid it aside, exposing the body in black trousers and white shirt. At that instant the air sprang to flame, a cracking shock of thunder shook the stunned world and Henry Armstrong tranquilly sat up. With inarticulate cries the men fled in terror, each in a different direction. For nothing on earth could two of them have been persuaded to return. But Jess was of another breed.

In the grey of the morning the two students, pallid and haggard from anxiety and with the terror of their adventure still beating tumultuously in their blood, met at the medical college.

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'You saw it?' cried one.

'God! yes -- what are we to do?'

They went around to the rear of the building, where they saw a horse, attached to a light wagon, hitched to a gatepost near the door of the dissecting-room. Mechanically they entered the room. On a bench in the obscurity sat the negro Jess. He rose, grinning, all eyes and teeth.

'I'm waiting for my pay,' he said.

Stretched naked on a long table lay the body of Henry Armstrong, the head defiled with blood and clay from a blow with a spade.

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Average: 5 (2 votes)

Comments

Submitted by admin on Wed, 05/19/2004 - 10:53

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very great

Submitted by admin on Thu, 10/07/2004 - 23:40

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Great story. Impressive that you got it into such a small amount of words! I didnt get the ending, I was expecting something along the lines of the coffin being back in the ground and Jess nowhere to be found (i.e. hes in it!!). Good job!

Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/30/2005 - 11:05

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I liked this story alot. The surprise ending was an ending that I would have never expected. Ambrose Bierce is an awsome writer with great ideas. I would like to read more of his stories. Also, it was very interesting how Ambrose Bierce could put such vivid descriptions in a story thats only a page and a half long. From, J-Dawg

Submitted by admin on Wed, 08/31/2005 - 00:01

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I dont know. Is the author trying to be deep about a certain subject? If so then it is too deep so that the abyss he created completely flung the readers into another realm. By the way, Im not a big fan of sadistic stories. I hope the author was not trying to make any social commentaries through this story.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 10/16/2005 - 20:55

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I havent determined any deep, symbolic meanings, but I let out a quick laught at the end of this one. Henry Armstrong survives being put into a casket, and is lucky enough to be dug up. Its a miracle that Armstrong is recovered, but it makes no difference to Jess who conks him on the head with a shovel, killing him.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 10/25/2005 - 13:11

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its GREAT

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/09/2005 - 04:47

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in the start of the text there are a lot words which indicate that "one summer night" is a horror story. it is words like buried, dead an black darkness. the atmosphere is getting scary and exciting because of the rainy weather and the fact that the tree men try to hide their illegal business on the cemetery.
in the end of the story it gets a funny twist. Henry Armstrong who has been buried when he still was alive. then Jess and tre men dig him up and he wake up. the most times this will normally be a lucky story because they have saved a man from death. but in "one summer night" Jess kills Henry because he wants the money from the two medical students. this is pretty ironic because they save a man from death and then kill him. it is ironic to that even though henry has been buried and is very ill he will not accept that he is dead and when he at last gets convinced that he is going to die he gets saved by the tree men and then he dies.
the story divided in three parts. in the start which tells us that it is a horror story. then a description of what happens and at last the plot of the story is getting discovered.

Gorm

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/09/2005 - 04:48

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This short story is about to young medical student, and a giant Negro Jess. They dig up a dead body, who is not dead anyway, and Jess kills the man. Jess is working as a man-of-all-work at a cemetery, and we now from the text that he has dug up dead bodies before. The three men now that it is illegal what they are doing or else they would not have chosen a dark summer night, with lightning to do it on, and it also says in the text that the felt reasonably secure. If it was legal they would not fell reasonably secure but secure. There are many examples of irony in this text, one of them is when they dig up Henry Armstrong and saves him because he is not dead, and then later Jess kills him, because he wants his money. This is deeply ironic. The text is build up, whit an introduction and then the whole story and what it is about, and then there is an ending where we get the point. I think the introduction in this text is the first passage, because we read words like death, and this convinced me that it is a crime story. Then we hear the whole story, and at the ending we get the whole point. The point is that the medical students want the body to practice on, and Jess was suppose to deliver a dead body to get his money, and because Henry Armstrong wasn’t dead Jess kills him. This way of building a crime story is very typical.

by me

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/09/2005 - 04:50

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The short story "One Summer Night" is about two medical students, who needs a new frehs body to their medical experiments. Jess is a "man-of-all-work" man, who works at the cemetry. He helps the students with diggen up the body Henry Armstrong. But Henry Amstrong is a live when they dig him up, and they all fled in terror. Because of the fact that Henry Amstrong is alive, the students can not use him for experiments. And then they do not pay Jess the money the promissed him, for getting them a body. At last Jess kills Henry Amstrong, because he wants his money.

Analyse of the tekst:
Structure:
Exposition = the part of the story were we are told the details we need to know, to know which kind of story it is:
The first 8 lines.

Denoment = What the point in the story is really about:
The last 2 lines

Complication = What the circumstances is in the story:
Jess has digged caskets up before, that is implied in the lines: "From the nature of what he was now doing it was inferable that the place was not so popouls as its register may shown it to be."
We are not directly told that the tree men are doing something illegal. But the circumstances of the act shows that it is:
-It is late night
-The lines: "It was not a night in which any credible witness was likely to be straying about a cementery, so the tree men who were there, digging into the grave of Hanry Armstrong, felt reasonablt secure."
It is a good quotation to show that their act is not legal. they would not be afraid of witnesses if they did not have anything to hide.
- they have a horse and a light wagon, waiting for them, so thei can get away quickly, if somebody unwanted came by.
-The lines: "..haggard from anxiety and with the terror of their adventure still beating tumultuously in their blood.."
The students are really scared, and the the thing there is "beating tumultuously" are their harts.
They would not be scared if what they have doen was legal.

Examples of Irony in the tekst:
-They dig a man up, who they expect to be dead, but is alive. And then they kill him.
-The titel: Not the kind of summer night we would expect. A summer night is normaly a peaceful an romantic situation. But here it is a ghost story.

Typical Ghost story Traits:
-cemetary
-night
-bad weather
-holding back informations (not telling all details -> hints instead)

Thies traits are in this short story. So the story must be a ghost story. The most of the traits are in the exposition, so we are not in doubt about which kind of story we are reading.

I think that the short story is good. It does not speak to me, but I guess it is because of the genre. But the story has some good traits, for a normal ghost story. There are many things hidden in the tekst, and that makes it fun reading. it is not to difficult to read, and that makes it funnier to analyse.

Signe

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/09/2005 - 04:50

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One Summer Night

The Summer Night is a very ironic story. When you see the Headline we get the association that it is a love story instead of a horror story. But when we have read the first line, we have no doubt that it is a horror story, because we hear that Henry Armstrong is buried. The two white men ran away but the black man, Jess, stayed. The Black man killed Henry Armstrong who already is dead.

The structure in the text is normal for a “ghost story” first an introduction, then a discussion, and in the end a solution. The structure is normal for all short stories. Word as, Confinement, Ghastly, Cemetery, Casket and Excavation contribute to realize the association that it is a ghost story.

I think that story is quit fun, on the same time as it is scary. Ii is not a story I would have picked myself, because horror don’t have my interest. But if you work whit the subject, is it a very relevant short story.

Sisse

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/09/2005 - 15:10

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It was a clever, if not completely unique story. I did enjoy it - once I burrowed through the clunky language. The environment was well painted, but I think it would have been much easier to digest - and more impacting - if the writing had a little more stream-lined.

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