MAN AND MACHINE

VISIT https://writ.rs/moxonsmaster TOREAD THE STORY

This month’s story deals with some big questions. In fact, Moxon’s Master by Ambrose Bierce tackles some of the biggest questions of them all. What is life, what is humanity, and how do we know?

This debate has to be situated within the context of how people thought about such issues at the time the story was written, at the end of the 19th century. The ways in which subjects such as science and technology, philosophy, theology and so on are addressed are of their time.

This story provides us with a great example of how to start a short story. We open with a striking piece of dialogue. A question, and a contentious question at that. A question that really sums up the story. It draws the reader in and has them instantly wanting to know who is speaking, who is being addressed, and what exactly are they talking about.

The question raised by the story is how can we tell the