Review of “The Death of Halpin Frayser” by Ambrose Bierce: Halloween Countdown

For October 10

Plot:

Halpin Frayser has been living rough, sleeping in the forest around Napa in California. After waking from a dreamless sleep one morning, he mutters, “Catherine LaRue.” The reader receives no further explanation.

Things haven’t always been so unfortunate for Halpin. He was raised in the South by an indulgent mother and a father who was often away, building a political career. Mother and son grow close, sharing a love of the (bad) poetry of a colonial ancestor.

When Halpin tells his mother of his desire to go to California for a couple of weeks, she tells him that the poet-ancestor came to her in a dream to warn her of Halpin’s death by strangulation.

Before anyone can strangle him in California, someone presses Halpin into the Navy. Only years later can he return to San Francisco. There, he finds himself friendless, but he’s too proud to take help from strangers, which leads to his sleeping in the wild and hunting for dinner.

He sleeps again, but this time he dreams. The woods he walks through have grown sinister. The trees drip blood. He feels rather than sees things watching him. Lastly, he comes upon his mother. Unlike the usual ghost, which is a soul without a body, she is a body without a soul. She doesn’t speak to him, but Halpin realizes she hates him. She clutches his throat.

Thus, the narrator tells the reader, Halpin dies in his dream.

Thoughts:

This is a sad, confusing little story with—as I saw it—no single correct interpretation. Who killed Halpin? And why? He was an unfortunate. Did he deserve such a fate? Perhaps he committed a sin not mentioned in the narrative, and this was payback? The story provides no clear answer.

Is his mother’s warning dream real or a masterstroke of passive-aggressiveness? Again, I could make an argument either way.

As with many of Bierce’s writings, things are not what they seem, and a twist appears at the end. Halpin is a spoiled rich boy out in the cruel world, but the world is cruel in unexpected ways. He tries to maintain the appearance of honorability after he returns from his time at sea.

Lush, if disturbing, imagery fills Halpin’s dreams in the forest. The depiction of the relationship between Halpin and his mother has the trappings of being sweet, but the reader gets the feeling of something a little off kilter. Like most of Bierce’s tales, this is a downer.

This is a story to admire for its craft, that is, for Bierce’s way of communicating more than the narration says. It’s a little hard to enjoy as a rippin’ good yarn.

Bio: Ambrose Bierce (1842- disappeared 1914) was an American journalist, writer, and Civil War veteran. Among his best-known works are “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”—familiar to high school students in the U.S.—and The Devil’s Dictionary, a collection of sardonic definitions of common words. He also wrote a memoir, What I Saw at Shiloh, an unsentimental (at least) account of that battle.

There has been much speculation about his death. He is said to have gone to join the forces of Pancho Villa to observe the Mexican Revolution and disappeared, but a small ocean of ink has been spilled about hows, wheres, and whens.


The story can be read here:

The story can be listened to here: (38:40)


Title: “The Death of Halpin Frayser”
Author: Ambrose Bierce (1842-c. 1914)
First published: The Wave, December 19, 1891