"A Watcher by the Dead- by Ambrose Bierce is a suspenseful and grotesquely described story. Not all pranking punishments are all in good fun. The turning point of the situation was shocking to the reader and also the characters in the story. The descriptions of the characters and their actions gave much information of the suspenseful events to come. .
The young man locked in the dark, gloomy room was named Jarette. He was a young, dark complected man with brown hair and a smooth shaven face. The two physicians, Harper and Mancher were in on a joke, in a way of a punishment, for Jarette. Mancher agreed to play as a corpse in the room where Jarette was locked in. Throughout the night Jarette had done little actions to keep himself preoccupied. He took out his book in the first few moments he arrived in the room and read a chapter before putting it away. Then proceeding to the windows, opened the shutters as trying to look out and get as much light as possible. With the room being in the rear of the building facing a high rock of a hill there was no streetlight or moonlight possible to reach the barred windows. Jarette had paced around the dark room until he finally set in an arm- chair. By the way the only things in the room were an armchair, a small reading stand supporting a candle, and a long kitchen table where a dead corpse lye under a sheet. .
Part two of the story was in a flashback scene between three physicians, Harper, Mancher, and Helberson. They were in the physician's office at a table drinking punch and smoking. Harper, after a few moments, starts to describe Jarette to the other physicians. Harper describes that Jarette looks much like Mancher after Helberson's question over Jarette. Harper goes further into description saying that Jarette is a bit of a gambler and that he rather bet than eat. Considering Harper saying this he is playing a joke on Jarette because Jarette may have lost a bet and didn't pay Harper so Harper takes it as a payback to teach Jarette a lesson.
