A Vine on a House by Ambrose Bierce

"The next evening, at about the same hour... and again the mysterious phenomenon occurred..."

Society has so many unspoken rules, but should all the rules be followed? And if so, then at what cost? In this short story by Ambrose Bierce, readers are invited to reflect on their own community's unspoken rules. Rae Wilson shares her observations on Bierce's words and invites you to question your own neighborly behavior.

Read the Story

Music by:

Sneaky Snitch by Kevin MacLeod http://incompetech.com

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/sneaky-snitch

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/7-rXQALDv-4

-------------

Monster Heat - by David Fesliyan

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

Welcome to Echoes in the Dark, a podcast dedicated to the oral tradition of storytelling. If you're looking to enjoy more classic literature, struggle to find the time to read, hate reading, or just love listening to stories, then this podcast is for you. At the end of each story, I'll share my analysis on the story's deeper meanings. A Vine on a House by Ambrose Bierce is a short story that was originally published in 1905 in Cosmopolitan magazine and later republished in 1913 as a part of a collection of short stories by Bierce. The entire story is told in third-person objective, which means as we're reading through, we're kind of like a fly on a wall, observing everything that is happening. If you want to follow along, you can get a copy on my website BetterEssayWriting.com. A Vine on a House by Ambrose Bierce. About three miles from the little town of Norton in Missouri, on the road leading to Maysville, stands an old house that was last occupied by a family named Harding. Since 1886, no one has lived in it, nor is anyone likely to live in it again. Time and the disfavor of persons dwelling thereabout are converting it into a rather picturesque ruin. An observer unacquainted with its history would hardly put it in the category of haunted houses. Yet in all the region around, such is its evil reputation. Its windows are without glass, its doorways without doors. There are wide breaches in the shingle roof, and for lack of paint, the weatherboarding is a done gray. But these unfailing signs of the supernatural are partly concealed and greatly softened by the abundant foliage of a large vine overrunning the entire structure. This vine, of a species no botanist has ever been able to name, has an important part in the story of the house. The Harding family consisted of Robert Harding, his wife Matilda, Miss Julia Wentz, and she was her sister, and two young children. Robert Harding was a silent, cold-mannered man who made no friends in the neighborhood, and apparently cared to make none. He was about 40 years old, frugal and industrious, and made a living from the little farm which is now overgrown with brush and brambles. He and his sister-in-law were rather tabooed by their neighbors, who seemed to think they were seen too frequently. Not entirely their fault, for at these times they evidently did not challenge observation. The Moricodes of rural Missouri is stern and exacting. Mrs. Harding was a gentle, sad-eyed woman, lacking a left foot. At some time in 1884, it became known that she had gone to visit her mother in Iowa. That was what her husband said in reply to inquiries, and his manner of saying it did not encourage further questioning. She never came back, and two years later, without selling his farm or anything that was his, or appointing an agent to look after his interests, or moving his household goods, Harding, with the rest of the family, left the country. Nobody knew where he went. Nobody at the time cared. Naturally, whatever was movable about the place soon disappeared, and the deserted house became haunted in the manner of its kind. One summer evening, four or five years later, the Reverend J. Gruber of Norton and a Maysville attorney named Hyatt met on horseback in front of the Harding place. Having business matters to discuss, they hitched their animals and went to the house, sat on the porch to talk. Some humorous reference to the somber reputation of the place was made and forgotten as soon as it was uttered, and they talked of their business affairs until it grew almost dark. The evening was oppressively warm. The air stagnant. Presently, both men started from their seats in surprise. A long vine that covered half the front of the house and dangled its branches from the edge of the porch above them was visibly and audibly agitated, shaking violently and ever -stammingly. We shall have a storm, Hyatt explained. Gruber said nothing, but silently directed the other's attention to the foliage of adjacent trees, which showed no movement. Even the delicate tips of the boughs silhouetted against the clear sky were motionless. They hastily passed down the steps to what had been a lawn and looked upward at the vine, whose entire length was now visible. It continued in violent agitation, yet they could not discern no disturbing cause. Let us leave, said the minister. And leave they did. Forgetting that they had been traveling in opposite directions, they rode away together. They went to Norton, where they related their strange experience to several discreet friends. The next evening, at about the same hour accompanied by two others whose names are not recalled, they were again on the porch of the Hardin house, and again the mysterious phenomenon occurred. The vine was violently agitated while under the closest scrutiny from root to tip, nor did their combined strength applied to the trunk serve to still it. After an hour's observation, they retreated no less wise, it is thought, than when they had come. No great time was required for these singular facts to rouse the curiosity of the entire neighborhood. By day and by night, crowds of persons assembled at the Hardin house, seeking a sign. It does not appear that any found it, yet so credible were the witnesses mentioned that none doubted the reality of the manifestations to which they testified. By either a happy inspiration or some destructive design, it was one day proposed. Nobody appeared to know from whom the suggestion came. To dig up the sign, and after a good deal of debate, this was done. Nothing was found but the root, yet nothing could have been more strange. For five or six feet from the trunk, which had at the surface of the ground a diameter of several inches, it ran downward, single and straight, to a loose, friable earth. Then it divided, and some divided, into rootlets, fibers, and filaments, most curiously interwoven. When carefully freed from soil, it showed a singular formation. In their ramifications and doublings back upon themselves, they made a compact network, having in size and shape of an amazing resemblance to the human figure. Head, trunk, and limbs were there. Even the fingers and toes were distinctly defined, and many professed to see in the distribution and arrangement of the fibers in the global mass representing the head, a grotesque suggestion of a face. The figure was horizontal. The smaller roots had begun to unite at the wrists. In point of resemblance to the human form, this image was imperfect. At about ten inches from one of the knees, the cilia forming that leg had abruptly doubled backward and inward upon their coarse growth. That figure lacked the left foot. There was but one inference, the obvious one, but ensuing excitement as many courses of action were proposed, as there were incapable counselors. The matter was settled by the sheriff of the county, who, as the law focus study of the abandoned estate, ordered the root replaced and the excavation filled with the earth that had been removed. Later inquiry brought out only one fact of relevancy and significance. Mrs. Hardin had never visited her relatives in Iowa, nor did they know that she was supposed to have done so. Of Robert Hardin and the rest of his family, nothing is known. The house retains its evil reputation, but the replanted vine is as orderly and well-behaved a vegetable as a nervous person could wish to sit under of a pleasant night when the care did great out there. Immemorial revelation in the distant whippoorpool signifies its notion of what ought to be done about it. So that was A Vine on a House by Ambrose Bierce, and when I sat down to actually analyze this story, I found that I had way more questions than I normally would after reading and analyzing a story. So one thing that comes to my mind is the fact that it was published in Cosmopolitan magazine. As soon as I saw that, I said, oh my goodness, is that the same Cosmopolitan magazine that is around today? And actually, yes and no. So Cosmopolitan magazine was first published in 18, I think it was 1884, and then it didn't become a women's magazine until much later. So I want to say 1967. So I thought that was kind of interesting because apparently Cosmopolitan magazine used to be a magazine for all genders, all people, and the same way Playboy originally started out as being something where you would be able to read like really in-depth, interesting, amazing articles, and then you'd see some pictures of pretty ladies, over time that production changed, right? So we can say the same for Cosmopolitan magazine, even though Cosmopolitan magazine was ultimately purchased by a different publisher. So I just found that interesting, like are they trying to tell women that you got to be careful because your husband might just have an affair with your sister and murder you and bury you in the ground? But since Cosmo wasn't purely directed at women back there, I'm gonna assume that that was not the author's intent. Full disclosure, the accent I put on earlier was not specifically a Missouri accent. I've only been to Missouri like twice in my life, and as with any state or country, people speak differently in all different parts of that state or country. So the way one person speaks in, say, St. Louis might be completely different than the way someone speaks in a more rural part of Missouri. So if you're like, hey that accent, it didn't sound authentic to me, it was just a generic kind of Southern twang, so don't come at me. All right, now let's get back to the questions that I had. Like, why did the husband move? So he lived in that house for two years after he murdered his wife. I'm assuming he murdered his wife. Did the sister also have something to do with the wife's murder? Did they do it together? Is she a victim of circumstance? And she kind of later finds out that he's murdered, technically, her sister. But then the fact that the sister didn't exactly try to hide her relationship from the neighbors, could that be because she was a meanie and she was in cahoots with the husband? Or was she, like I said, a victim of circumstance? And maybe she didn't have a choice as to whether or not she was being seen with him because he was a mean guy and maybe he was threatening her in the same way he threatened his wife. Okay, so why did he move? You lived there for two years, you can't tell me that for two years you didn't smell the body. Did he move because his dead wife was like shaking vines at the place? Was she, I mean the whole vine would not have covered the house while he was still living there. So was there any kind of fine? Did he move out of guilt? Did he move because he felt that he might get caught someday? Or was he just like, yeah, you know what, I don't want to live here anymore, let's bounce. So he moves, have no clue why, the author chooses not to get into this and that's fair. The same way that the author chooses not to give us any real detail as to whether or not the sister wanted to be involved with the husband. So maybe this information is given to us because for the author this stuff is not important. I'm definitely interested, like what happened to this woman's foot? She's got no left foot. Did the husband have something to do with that missing foot? Was he an abusive man? I mean the fact that she winds up dead after he, well he, she winds up dead. He tells people she's going to go visit her family and then he mysteriously disappears as well. That kind of makes me think that this woman had been in an abusive relationship. But the author does not explain why the left foot is missing and whether or not he is at fault for that. Don't worry, there may be a reason why the author chose not to mention that as well. I'm gonna get there. Another thing that I was thinking about before I explain my theory as to why that author chose to leave out certain things is what's up with this woman, this spirit shaking the vine? Like these people are on the porch for a while, they're talking, they make some comment about the house. She doesn't shake the vine when they make the comment. She waits until a little later to shake the vine. So did it take all of her like spectral energy in order to shake that vine and they just happen to be at the right place at the right time? She's been able to shake that vine around the same time on other days so you can't tell me it's taken like five or six years for her to get up the energy to figure out how to shake a vine. I don't know. Why shake the vine violently? Does she want people to know that she's there? Don't ignore me. I mean it's not like she's taking that vine and then smashing it into the house. She's not forcing the vine to grow more. I felt like the vine would trap them in the house but no she just shakes it violently and maybe she's shaking it violently because this is her way of saying pay attention to me. Pay attention to me. And so what's the author trying to tell us? Well maybe the author is trying to tell us that we need to take care of our neighbors, right? We need to pay attention. People in the community pretty much ignored her and her family because they thought the guy was mean and they're just like whatever he's a jerk we don't want to talk to him that he's not really gonna talk to us and so we know that she's not around. Somebody will ask like oh haven't seen her around maybe she used to go do the shopping or something like that. Keep in mind that they're pretty isolated. He's got the farm that pretty much provides them with everything they need but you've got to expect in 1905 there must have been a few things that they needed from the store. So we're assuming oh no the story takes place in 1886. Okay so there's gotta be a few things that they don't have on the farm that she's gonna have to go out and get. Now we could say that maybe because of her missing foot and because he's mean maybe she didn't go out very often and so the sister-in-law is the one who goes out and gets things. Though the fact that people have asked him where's your wife and he responds with she's at her parents and responds in a manner where people feel they cannot ask more or should not ask more. That tells me that people knew of her existence and she had some goings out within the community. So though people know about her, though people know he's mean, she's gone for two years before he leaves. So that means for two years nobody in this community pressed the issue of where's your wife. No one in this community thought no maybe we should reach out to her family in Iowa. No one in this community did they not bother to ask about the kids. Speaking of the kids, how old were these kids? Because if they were really young then I could see them not being able to mention to anybody mom is missing. However they if they are really young then they would be crying and asking about mom. That would just be a given. Yes you've got the aunt there to help sue them but at some point you would think somebody would notice a crying kid even though it's a rural community. Keep in mind we've got two years in which this woman no one's making any advances on figuring out hey where where is she? No one thinks this is very strange they just kind of whatever we're just going to ignore people turn a blind eye. With the children so this story comes out in 1905 right and in 1905 the state of Missouri adopts into law that children have to either receive education in a school or they must they they have the right to receive an education right so if the child is working on the farm then the family has to prove that the child is working on the farm. Okay so even though the story takes place in 1886 I do find it an interesting coincidence that the story about a woman who has gone missing because her community decided to turn a blind eye turn a blind eye turn the other cheek turn the other cheek and just not pay attention not dig any further happens to be the same year that kids have to receive some sort of education and be accounted for. Why is this significant? Well if the kids are of school age which I'm assuming they are not absolute babies because otherwise those babies would definitely be causing a fuss for their mama and we might see some reports of the sister-in-law walking around one of the kids but all we have a report of is her with the man okay so with that being said the kids if the kids were of school age and had been in school then they would have mentioned at school at some point I miss mama or mama's asleep I want my mama something would have been said because that's what kids do even if they felt that you know dad might hit them or beat them or something with children it's very hard for them to keep a secret of that nature for so long for two years so if they had been in school then this woman's disappearance probably would have been investigated a lot sooner okay so that is my theory as to why the author chose not to go into what happened to her foot is the sister a willing participant in this extramarital affair and why he up and moved all of a sudden my theory is that the author doesn't really want us to pay attention to that stuff the author really only wants us to focus on the fact that the town ignored this woman and she disappeared okay so that's my theory anyway I would also add that I think it's kind of funny that the author mentions the little knots of wood turning the roots kind of turning in on itself and then forming at the breast and I'm like she has boobies this this dead this root this root of the tree trunk this has boobies I think that's really funny that the author put that but it's written by a guy so there you go maybe he thought it was funny too all right so what else can we say about this story yes we definitely have I certainly have a lot of questions but in terms of achieving its goal which is to have us think about our own relationships within our communities and how we interact in our communities I think it does a really good job and it's interesting because the writer says and I quote the moral code of rural Missouri is stern and exacting so I feel like this is the writer's way of saying hey moral code of Missouri you may have thought it was polite not to get involved in your neighbors affairs but as a result of your not getting involved a woman wind up dead and buried I mean this town no town wants to have a home in the community that is abandoned and has an evil reputation and is just a negative site this kind of brings down the whole community brings down the whole town so it's not like these people were asking for it so in a way we can say the author is letting us know that when you turn a blind eye when you turn the other cheek when you ignore a problem in your community it will dig deep it will fester it will grow and it will take hold like a root it will not go away and you will always be reminded of that thing that you could have done something about or should have done something about I think it's kind of funny that it ends with and that vine is just as polite and nice so basically this woman it gets to keep her home she gets to stay right there and she was probably very kind and polite and nice towards others in and of itself now one thing I had to look up was whippoorwill because I was like what on earth is that and it's a little bird so there you have it if you were like what did you say at the end whippoorwill is a little bird so you can hear the kids like crickets and then these little birds in southern Missouri I hope you enjoyed this story and do come back for another