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.

Ever find yourself in a horrifying situation, wishing it was only a nightmare you would soon wake up from, only to realize it's reality that is sealed due to the uncontrollable circumstance? In the fictional short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, author Ambrose Bierce tells the story of a man who finds himself in such a situation. Part one begins with an unnamed fugitive and a group of Federal Union Soldiers standing on a railroad bridge in Alabama. The story takes place during the American Civil War. The man is a civilian plantation owner who is awaiting execution by way of hanging. As he waits, the man stares down at the water below the bridge thinking about the ways he could escape and find his way home to his family. Then

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.

This Republic of Suffering: Death and The American Civil War exposes a different perspective of the Civil War that is sparsely discussed and challenges the reader to broaden their views and beliefs of the war. Author, Drew Gilpin Faust, conducted nine chapters, or the new and transformed ars moriendi, primarily focusing on the past and present of the Civil War and its soldiers.

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

In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, Bierce starts her short story on the edge with Peyton Farquhar, a 35 year old planter from the south, standing on Owl Creek Bridge with his hands tied behind his back and a noose around his neck. There are soldiers from the north surrounding him. Two soldiers, one on each side of him, take away the plank in which he is standing on. Falling to the water, Farquhar focuses his last thoughts on his family, while also having hopes of freeing his hands and diving into the water below.

Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a story written by Ambrose Bierce that explores the

It is hypothesized that the two excerpts convey messages about the representation of goodness and evil attributes. An expository approach is essential to the study of this key idea, for the reason that no single punitive perspective can sufficiently address this issue. The research will be used to convey and interpret ideas from both passages. I will research the stories portrayal of wicked factors, while clarifying and expressing the importance within both accounts. By means of thorough investigation, the reader will apprehend the significance of why the authors included these themes within their stories.

When developing the different points to analyze I found that the way I was setting this paper up was truly showcasing my abilities to analyze a passage from a well know author. While going through the text, I found a vast amount of imagery,” When considering the imagery in the folktale one of the first

The poem commences with a third person narrative voice. This persona describes the terrorist as enjoying the moment, ‘The terrorist has already crossed the street. / The distance keeps him out of danger, / and what a view – just like the movies:’ (5-7). By describing the situation as movie-like, it shows that the terrorist values his life over others as he situates himself at a distance where he can observe safely. This idea is also expressed through the fact that the language is factual, observational and unemotional, conveying the emotional detachment of the terrorist towards the pain and suffering he will inflict. The use of language in this is vastly different to that of ‘Lot’s Wife’ with the contrast of emotional language and factual language. The descriptions of the individuals are detached with mundane characteristics, such as the ‘crummy gloves’ (26), only being mentioned. This creates the sense that these individuals are less important than him, showing that the terrorist looks down on them. Throughout the piece, there is a sense of dramatic irony, with the terrorist knowing something that the people entering and exiting the bar don’t. This introduces the idea that the terrorist perceives this situation as comedic. This idea is continued with the use of time intervals marking the countdown of the detonation.

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.