Essay on An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and Stephen Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” are both examples of Naturalistic writing. Both stories end with a man dying violently, though death seems to be avoidable in both cases to demonstrate Naturalism, and the idea of survival of the fittest through writing. Though Peyton Farquhar, and the Swede have free will their free will can be dangerous to themselves especially when not paired with rational thought. The human condition is one of misery, either in life or death, and the world is indifferent to humans and their lives.

Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” and the film version directed by Robert Enrico share some similarities but mostly the differences between the two works. Both the short story and film can be compared and contrasted in relation to the emotion, detail and perspective. One is at an advantage, reading the short story before seeing the film because the story gives a better idea of what is happening and who the protagonist really is. In other words, the short story helps in providing the reader with key details that are not mentioned in the film.

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

The short story, “An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, is quite strange and vivid in its description of the final moments before death. It gives a sudden burst of hope to the reader with the escape of main character, Peyton Farquhar.

Ambrose Bierce led a relatively full but tragic life. After losing his sons Day and Leigh to suicide and alcoholism respectively, his wife left him for another man (“Ambrose Bierce”). His struggles with death and the inequity of life are evident throughout his literary works. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” illustrates many of the power struggles that Bierce was fighting throughout much of his life.

Ambrose Bierce writes his story in three parts, each part describing a different event that is taking place, creating the intricate plot of the story. The first part, the introduction, places the reader in a thrilling and shocking scene, the death and possible murder of a man. The second part does not continue the story and instead is a character’s introduction and a flashback to when the man was told of a crime he later decided to commit. When the scout said “the commandant officer has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged” (484), he warned Farquhar of his possible death before committing the crime, but still Farquhar decided to risk his life for his side in a war thus bringing to life the story we know. Finally, the third part--the longest--describes the events that should have taken place directly after the closure of part one. Farquhar is hanged and dreams of his escape in the few seconds he has before being snapped back into reality and to his death. By structuring the story in this sequence the author forces the reader to wait and continue reading to know whether Farquhar lives or dies, thus dragging on the already excruciating

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce is a 19th Century mystery story that is set at the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865) when the Slave owning Confederate States in the South engaged in conflict with the Federal Government of the USA. The story focuses on a character called Peyton Farquhar, whom is about to be summarily hung for trespassing on the Owl Creek Bridge; his fate is to be hung from that same bridge. The story ends with a curious twist in the plot. The main part of the story is set in Farquhar's mind, though whilst reading the reader is unsure (despite careful, hidden hints placed by Bierce) of this fact. Only at the end when it is clearly

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is written in the third person limited omniscient point of view. The narrator is telling the story as if observing it from outside any of the characters, yet you know everything that Peyton is feeling and thinking with great detail. This method of telling the story very effectively reinforces the idea that this inherent want and need for survival is something that can be found in nearly all humans. If the story had been told in first person by Peyton, this would not be so much

In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Bierce shows the reader what the fear of death can do to a man’s psyche while allowing the reader to decide if what the protagonist has done is justified or not. Bierce does this through the narrator’s point of view, Bierce’s writing style, and the narrator’s tone. The narrator, being third person limited, knows what Peyton Farquhar thinks and how he feels; and therefore, is able to go into great detail about Farquhar's hanging. Which causes the reader to wonder why the narrator went through the trouble of going into so much detail about the imagined escape?

THESIS: Bierce’s innovations in the story’s structure divulge his exceptional comprehension of plot. For Bierce, contending forms of the truth can be existent within the same story. Bierce gives vivid representations of suspense and imagery, allowing the reader into the mind of Peyton Farquhar, making the reader feel a part of the story and entrapping them with foreshadowing, style, and tone. I. Using mysterious suspense, reality and illusion, Ambrose Bierce is both reliable and unreliable, pulling the reader deeper into the story.

In the first and second paragraph of part three in, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the author Ambrose Bierce, uses particular and precise vocabulary to emphasize the melodramatic journey that Peyton Farquhar encounters after escaping his execution. When Farquhar awakens in the stream below the bridge, “keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fibre of his body and limbs” (66). To state that he was feeling this specific way, must have a great deal of importance. To exaggerate what Farquhar is going through, may incline the reader to really have a sense what the main character is facing. For what we know as readers, Peyton Farquhar was just trying to help the people he supported, which in this case was

Wars do not accept anyone and everyone. There is a certain requirement for all who want to enlist. Peyton Farquhar in the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, was a farmer who was rejected from enlisting in the army. The story takes place during the Civil War in the South. Peyton came from a highly-respected family in the southern state Alabama. He was devoted to the southern customs. Peyton unfortunately was unable to enter the war due to certain Circumstances. One day a soldier comes to Peyton’s home. His wife and he help the solider learning about Owl Creek Bridge. Pretty much the solider from the Northern gave him all the details. Peyton was plotting something in the back of his mind as he was

Sound, time, and sight are three aspects through which Ambrose Bierce expresses this theme. Peyton’s mind pieced together a desired situation for him, one that felt like it occurred over the course of two days but in fact imagined during his fall. Throughout his “escape” Peyton’s mind processed his surroundings quite uniquely, he payed attention to the slightest detail whether audible or visual. In the end Ambrose Bierce proves that there is a notable difference in the way the human mind works at the time of death as showcased by the protagonist of the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and its film adaptation by Robert