Journal 5 Ambrose Bierce - What did he share in common with Emily Dickinson?

Allister Lo
English 48B
January 18, 2008
Journal #5 Ambrose Bierce

Quote: "Mad (adj)- Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual. It is noteworthy that persons are pronounced mad by officials destitute of evidence that themselves are sane" (The Devil's Dictionary)

Summary: Bierce's definition of mad goes against what was the prevalent definition of the time, which was someone unusual. However, Bierce agrees that mad does entail being unusual, but that it is due to a higher degree of independence and the refusal to simply go along with the majority opinion. Besides, who knows if the normal people themselves are "sane"?

Response: As I was looking through Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary, I thought that his definition of mad was really interesting.

In Bierce’s day, mad meant something along the same lines as someone who was insane, or someone who was not considered “normal.” However, what does “normal” really mean? In this quote, Bierce addresses that question by saying that someone mad is someone that has their own way of thinking and does not simply conform to the opinions of the masses.

Another thing that made this quote particularly interesting was its relation to Emily Dickinson, an author who we previously read, who was also described as “mad.” People thought Dickinson was unusual because she locked herself in her room and wrote poetry. However, as we discussed in class, there may have been many reasons for her locking herself up, including that she thought her work was artistic in ways, and wanted to focus on it, thus isolating herself from society.

In essence, many writers back in Bierce and Dickinson’s time may have come under heat for their writing abilities because it may not have represented what people thought was “normal” at the time.

Another thing that was interesting was that many literary critics have viewed both Bierce’s and Dickinson’s writings as being depressing and generally pessimistic. Was this because they were disillusioned with society casting them off and labeling them as “mad”? To answer the question, I would think it would have an effect being called mad to some degree. I think it affected Bierce to the point where he defined the word “mad” in his dictionary just as a seemingly retort to people who used the word degradingly. To the same extent, Dickinson might have isolated herself from society because she did not appreciate being called mad and thus kept to herself, away from the masses of “normal” people.