| The Damned Thing | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Ambrose Bierce |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Publication date | 1898 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | N/A |
"The Damned Thing" is a short story written by Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in Tales from New York Town Topics on December 7, 1893.[1] This story focuses on how the human race takes their views of nature for granted and how there are things in the natural world the human eye cannot see or the human ear could hear.
Contents |
"The Damned Thing" is written in four parts with comically named headings. The story starts out in the deceased Hugh Morgan's cabin full of local farmers, woodsmen, jurors, a coroner and the dead, battered body of Hugh Morgan. A young man named William Harker, who was a witness to Morgan's death, later enters the cabin and is sworn in by the coroner to relate the circumstances surrounding Hugh Morgan's demise. William read from a manuscript he pulled out of breast pocket and talked about a shooting and fishing outing he had with Morgan. He later explained he and Morgan encountered a disturbance moving in the wild oat bushes Morgan referred to as "that damned thing." Harker explained nothing had affected him so strangely when he had no fear of the situation. Morgan suddenly fired his gun out of fright and before Harker knew what was going on, he said he was thrown violently to the ground and heard Morgan crying out in some type mortal agony. He looked in Morgan's direction only to see an extraordinary scene of his companion's body violently moving from side to side with shouts and disturbing cries. He thought Morgan was having some type of convulsion because he visibly couldn't see anything attacking him. After experiencing the terror of his friend's convulsions and the mysterious movement of the wild oats, Harker finally reached Morgan only to find him dead.
Having explained what happened to Morgan and heard the coroner say Morgan's diary had no figure in the matter of his death, Harker angrily leaves the cabin after one jury member forthrightly asks what insane asylum Harker had escaped from. Shorty after Harker left the jury concluded Morgan died in the hands of a mountain lion.
The story then proceeds to entries written in Morgan's diary. The entries gradually deal with Morgan realizing he is not mad because he realizes there are things in the natural world he cannot see or hear based on his experiences with nature and the damned thing.
"The Damned Thing" deals with how the human race takes the view of the natural world for granted because the human race expects certain things from what only they could see and hear. There are things in the natural world the human eye cannot see or human ear could hear and that should evoke the emotion of terror for the human race.
In the story, Morgan states in his diary the human eye is an imperfect instrument because its "range is but a few octaves of the real chromatic scale." Morgan is saying there are colors the human eye cannot see. He uses the example of chemists detecting the presence of actinic rays the human eye is unable to see without the use of scientific instruments. He also states the ear is an imperfect instrument because "either end of the scale are notes that stir no chord that imperfect instrument, the human ear." He uses of examples of him seeing a flock of black birds flying away in the air simultaneously when they could not see each other because of hill and tree tops. He inferred "there must have been a signal of warning or command, high and shrill above the din" he did not hear.
Morgan comes to believe these assumptions of humans having imperfect instruments because of his experiences and first hand encounters with things in nature he couldn't explain like with some of the examples stated above. Also his experience and curiosity with the damned thing lead to Morgan’s assumptions. He knew the damned thing could see certain colors, hear certain things and smell certain things the human race couldn't because of his own observations and inferences about the damned thing he wrote about in his diary. The damned thing has a great advantage over the human race because the damned thing was "of such a color." It could smell, hear and mostly importantly see things Morgan or any other human being couldn't. This scared Morgan very much because he stated his realization was terrible and insupportable. He thought he was becoming mad.
The 'damned thing' is never revealed in the story because revealing what kind of animal the damned thing was wasn't the purpose of the story. The purpose of the story was get people to realize there are things in nature humans cannot see or hear and that should scare them. The damned thing is supposed to be horrific in relation to humans not knowing what it could do or what it will do next. The human race is at a disadvantage because of their imperfect instruments and cannot know what the invisible beast or what any animal in nature will do next. From the story's ending it is obvious to infer that Morgan was not killed by a mountain lion but some invisible, horrific animal that could see and hear things the human race can't which gives it a great advantage over the imperfect human race.
"The Damned Thing" presents a number of Gothic elements throughout the short story. Some of the gothic elements include revealing what culture does not want to tell or admit and spreading social anxieties.
"The Damned Thing" reveals what culture does not want to tell or admit because one of the main premises of the story was to show how the human race takes the view of the natural world for granted because they expect certain things in nature from what only they could see and hear. Culture doesn't want to admit animals have a great advantage over the human race and their "imperfect instruments" because that means the human race can no longer be looked at as the most superior and intelligent life form. The human race can now be seen as a fragile, weak species who is susceptible to any animal in nature.
This revealing realization can also be incorporated into widespread social anxieties because knowing the human race is at disadvantage when it comes to animals, the anxiety of fear and terror can quickly set in. The human race now knows animals could be capable of anything human beings could never detect, see or sense until it's possibly too late.
"The Damned Thing" was very loosely adapted into an episode of the television series Masters of Horror.[2] It was inspired by Ambrose Bierce's short story and was directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Richard Christian Matheson. The TV adaptation focuses on an invisible force wreaking havoc on a man's family and town that forces the town members to kill each other and themselves. It first aired on October 26, 2007 with mixed reviews.
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