# W explained — The Devil’s Dictionary

> Chapter companion for The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

This chapter presents definitions for words beginning with W, including satirical takes on Wall Street, war, weather, weddings, werewolves, widows, wine, wit, witches, women, and worms'-meat. Bierce's characteristic cynicism targets political figures, social conventions, and human folly.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Duplicity

The definition of 'Wall Street' and the poem about Carnegie highlight the hypocrisy of moral condemnation by the wealthy.

### War and Violence

The definition of 'War' presents it as a byproduct of peace and warns against professions of eternal amity.

### Marriage and Gender Relations

The definitions of 'Wedding', 'Widow', and 'Woman' offer cynical views on marriage, gender roles, and female nature.

### Human Folly and Self-Deception

The definition of 'Worms'-Meat' mocks the folly of building grand tombs, and 'Weather' satirizes the uselessness of weather forecasting.

## Character check-ins

### Andrew Carnegie

Quoted and then satirized in a poem about Wall Street, accused of calling brokers parasites.

### William Bryan

Referenced in the poem about 'Whangdepootenawah' as having 'caught it'.

### Christ

Mentioned in the definition of 'Widow' for his tenderness toward widows.

### David

Referenced in the definition of 'Wrath' for incurring God's wrath by numbering his people.

### Balthasar Pober

Credited as the author of the definition of 'Woman'.

## Key lines

> War is a byproduct of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity.

War emerges from peace; peace itself is the most dangerous political state.

_Bierce's cynical inversion of the common saying 'in time of peace prepare for war'._

> Wedding: A ceremony at which two persons undertake to become one, one undertakes to become nothing, and nothing undertakes to become supportable.

Marriage is a ceremony where two people try to unite, one person loses their identity, and the resulting union is barely tolerable.

_Bierce's darkly humorous take on the institution of marriage._

> Woman: An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man, and having a rudimentary susceptibility to domestication.

Woman is an animal that lives near man and can be somewhat tamed.

_A misogynistic definition typical of Bierce's era, attributed to Balthasar Pober._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/chapters/w
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/chapters