Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” leads readers to query Ambrose Bierce about the numerous point of view shifts his story takes. Ambrose Bierce’s descriptive writing style grasps the reader’s attention, unknowingly manipulating the reader throughout the entire story. This statement holds to be true as the story line develops. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has a variety of ups and downs throughout the story, changing the direction and perspective through its point of view of omniscient and limited omniscient. Ambrose Bierce’s various shifts deceive readers into believing the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, has escaped a perilous fate.

“There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs.” This is a quote from George R.R. Martin, an American novelist and short story writer. This quote captures the concept that Ambrose Bierce presents in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Throughout this story, it is clear that Bierce is not keen on war. Bierce is not keen on war and believes it strips the humanity out of people.

Farquaad says, "Arrest them both and now, that makes me king!" The dragon, sent by Donkey, swallows Farquaad coming in through the window.

Author, Ambrose Bierce, who is considered one of the Great American authors, wrote during the realism period. Particularly, in his work titled An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, written in 1890, we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identified with the realism movement which was extant in American letters between 1850 and 1900. As a representative of such a movement, Ambrose Bierce, then remains on the most identifiable and iconic writers of his time.

Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa cry in despair for having been brought to this situation; feeling they can vanquish him in no time, both of them get on top of his shoulders, one on each side Rāma orders his hand to be severed. Rāma cut off one hand and Lakṣmaṇa chopped off the other.

He began to think of how he could get his hands free then he could get the noose from his neck, jump into the water and swim to his escape. When he dropped from the bridge, the rope snapped into and he fell into the water. His hands freed themselves and untied the rope from around his neck. He reached the surface and realized that his senses were super human. He saw things very distinctly. He realized that he was being shot at, he escaped and made it safely to dry land. He began his journey home, about 30 miles away. He traveled through seemingly never ending forest. He was moving along day and night with no rest or food and was very sore. He heard strange noises coming from the woods. He believed that as he was walking, he fell into a sleep. About the time he woke up at home with his wife and kids, he felt a searing pain in his neck and everything went

When Katsa fishes him out, she and Bitterblue dress the wound in his shoulder, slump him over a horse, and set out for the king was not dead and the only one who could kill him was knocked out.

The title plays an important role in catching the reader’s attention. If the title is interesting or compelling enough, one will be motivated to read it; otherwise, the story may never be read, resulting in a loss to both the author and the reader. In Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the author grabs the reader’s attention with a “creepy” title, indicating a bad happening on the Owl Creek Bridge. Peyton Farquhar, a planter who supports the Southern cause during the Civil War, is on the brink of execution by hanging. The title sets the eerie tone of the story, which appears to be about a hanging, and the setting, which appears to be a bridge.

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce, is the story of the hanging of a Civil War era Southern gentleman by the name of Peyton Farquhar. The story begins with an unidentified man being prepared to be hanged by a company of Union soldiers on a railroad bridge that runs over a river. He is then identified as Peyton Farquhar, a man who attempted to destroy the very bridge they are standing on based on information he was given by a Federal scout posing as a Confederate soldier. As he is dropped from the bridge to hang, the rope snaps and he falls into the river. After freeing himself and returning to the surface of the river, he realizes that his senses are all much

In “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, the story of a man by the name of Peyton Farquhar whose unlawful actions landed him in a heap of trouble is told. The story is split into three sections which goes back in forth between the past, the present and Farquhar’s falsation of both. By taking the approach of using symbols throughout the story, Bierce gave the opportunity for the reader to feel like they are apart of the story as well as leaving them with a shocker in the very end. Since the story goes back in forth between reality and illusion, the reader may get a bit confused while reading but you get

As Farquhar plummets from the bridge, he loses consciousness; then pain awakens him. A loud splash awakens him further and he realises his noose is broken as he falls into the stream. He sees a light flicker, fade, then brighten as he struggles to rise to the surface. In fear that he will be shot when he breaks the surface, he frees himself from his bounds and stays underwater a bit longer. When he rises, he sees the Northern soldiers still on the bridge and a sentinel fires his rifle at him twice. The lieutenant orders his men to fire to he dives into the water and removes a piece of metal from his neck. Returning for air, he gets shot at by the sentinels again; then he is shot at by a cannon. Suddenly he enters a disorienting whirl and ends up on the bank. When a cannon shoots at him again, he runs through the forest back home; it takes all day but the thought of his wife and children encourages him. As he nears the gates of his house he sees his wife and goes to embrace her. But before he reaches her, he feels a sharp pain in his neck and a sees a blinding white light. Then he is engulfed by utter darkness and silence. He is dead, and his damaged body is hanging from Owl Creek

Near the end of the narrative, Farquhar’s “neck [is] in pain [...] [... But] Despite his suffering [...] all [is] bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine [...and] his wife [...] stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy [...] As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck [...] then all is darkness and silence!” (Occurrence).

Reading and understanding literature is not as easy as it sounds. Being able to dissect each piece of information and connect it to the overall theme of the story takes lots of rereading and critical thinking. Reading the story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” takes lots of critical thinking and understanding the literature in a different point of view than the average reader would. The theme of this particular story quickly came to mind after initially concluding the reading, the author is trying to convey that nobody can escape death and how thoughts in the mind are so substantial in the consciousness that it can take over the reality. The author comes to this theme by incorporating specific literary elements such a symbol, irony,

An abundance of writers tries to touch on the theme of subjective and objective reality. Objective reality is a world outside a person’s mind. An effortless way of interpreting such a subject is called the real world. While on the other hand, the Subjective reality is a reality you create in your mind. From the way, the irony is being used to the tone being given, and to the overall plot structure of this story, Ambrose Bierce has an amazing way of demonstrating such a theme with the story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

The narrative “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce follows the story of Peyton Farquhar, who wished to escape his untimely death and be free. And escape he did, in more ways than one. It is within human nature to attempt to escape death when confronted with a potentially fatal situation; therefore it is not difficult to understand Farquhar’s desperate attempts to elude the reality of his hanging by playing out a dramatic escape in his mind. Such tendencies may also be found in individuals today - as they are bound by everyday duties and tedious, tasks, humans tend to create their own fantasies as Farquhar did. They would like to escape their lives, to be free. This fantasy, this paradox conceived in Farquhar’s mind that made