Analysis Of Peyton Farquhar In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

The short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce is a short story about a man named Peyton Farquhar is about to be hanged. The story takes place during the Civil War and Farquhar is constantly thinking of his wife and children at home. He dreams that he is able to escape and run to safety, where he finds his wife. When he goes to hug her, he suddenly feels a strong pain around his neck. Farquhar is then hanging off the bridge with the noose still around his neck. He imagined all of this before he was hanged.

I chose this source from the National Archives due to its relevance to the era in which “The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, by Ambrose Bierce was written. This document stresses the life of Confederate citizens in relation to contact with Federal soldiers. It includes information about citizens loyal to the Confederate flag spying, violating military orders, citizens moving through military installations, citizens not surrendering to the Union, and citizens committing sabotage to Federal arms. Citizens also provided business firms and services to assist the Confederate war effort, even after being seized by Federal arms. Civilian businesses even northward provided Confederate espionage, deceit, and the hiding of Confederate guerilla forces.

The film version of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge leaves out section two, along with many other important factors. Peyton Farquhar: the main character and the man being hanged is left nameless throughout the film and his detailed background that is portrayed in the text is left out as well. By reading the

Peyton Farquhar is a wealthy, proud southern man. Farquhar had wish to enroll in the military but was unable too due to causes that are unknown. He was then later fooled by a union scout impersonating a confederate soldier. This union scout tricked Farquhar into believing he could stop the northerners from advancing into southern territory. Farquhar was convinced by this scout that the only way to stop the northerners from going into southern territory was to destroy the railroad bridge at Owl Creek. While Farquhar is attempting

Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a story about a man’s final moments on earth before he is hanged and how he got there. There is a struggle within the character Farquhar of who he is and who he thinks he is. This causes different views throughout the story between reality and a fantasized reality. This plays a big role in the story because in part three of the story he thinks he is far superior and had outwitted his captures and escaped without a scratch after the rope broke and fell into the water. In reality he had been hanged and his body was swaying back and forth. This story had more meaning then just the top layer of being just about a guy who is being hanged. The meaning of this story is how fluid time moves, by this I mean how time seems to flow like a river it can move fast to slow and even seem to stand still. It has a secondary meaning of how we can fantasize another reality that can cause troubles for us. By this I mean you can envision your self into another world when you are still in the actual world, this can cause you to get yourself into a lot of trouble.

Throughout the passage “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, the author, Ambrose Bierce, makes it evident that he believes that war is an unnatural and unnecessary aspect of human life. Through the use of several literary tactics, the author creates a message that supports his viewpoint. By writing a story regarding the death of a civilian, Bierce is able to elaborate on his belief that even the civilians are unintentionally harmed by the recklessness of war.

Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, who was devoted to the Southern cause. Certain unknown circumstances prevented him from serving in the army. However, he still would do everything he possibly could to aid the south. He was sitting out at his home with his wife when a soldier came through. The soldier informed Farquhar that the Union soldiers have been repairing railroads in the area, including Owl Creek Bridge, which was approximately 30 miles from his home. When asked if it were possible to sabotage the bridge, the soldier responded to Farquhar that he had stored wood there last winter and it is dry now, so he could burn it down. The soldier

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, directed by Robert Enrico, depicts an occurrence in the mind of Peyton Farquhar. He is a civilian who tampers with the Union’s railroad system and is going to be hanged, and all he can think about is escaping and getting home to his wife. Unfortunately, death is a reality and no one can escape it.

Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” illustrates a theme of illusion versus reality distorted by the human mind. In the story, a man named Peyton Farquhar is about to be hanged on a railroad bridge towards the end of the American Civil War. Farquhar, a Confederate citizen eager to help the Confederate States of America’s cause, ventures out towards Owl Creek Bridge at the advice of a Union scout in disguise. Unbeknownst to Farquhar, Union troops captured the bridge and surrounding territory, and upon capturing Farquhar, elect to hang him on charges of being a Confederate spy and sympathizer. As he is being hanged, however, Farquhar is able to escape his fate by falling into the river below. He manages to return back to his home, only to find out the entire experience of escape was an illusion created by his own imagination. The story concludes with the revelation that he actually died on the railroad bridge. Farquhar’s mind was able to create a whole new reality for himself. This reality was vivid, and it seems real to the reader until the very end of the story. The hallucination also spanned hours, yet in reality time passed for only a few seconds. Ambrose Bierce’s story demonstrates the impeccable powers of the human mind and its ability to distort time and reality for itself.

To understand what happens at the point of death is impossible unless to be experienced. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce is set during the civil war during a northern advancement of the south. It opens at end of Peyton Farquhar’s life just before he will be hung for intruding on Union soldiers bridge of burn it. The story introduces the stages of death as a person would go through them.

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.

Have you ever been in a class that seemed to go on forever, one day, but rushed by the next? How were you feeling differently those two days? With your different feelings, did the time seem to pass differently? This idea is a major topic in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. This story is set during the American Civil War and follows Peyton Farquhar, who is supposed to be executed at Owl Creek Bridge. He awaited his death with apprehension, his life seemed to flash before his eyes. All of a sudden, Farquhar believed he was able to escape, running away from the bridge, only to reveal that he was hanging with a broken neck beneath the bridge. A major theme in the story is how people perceive time differently based on their emotions. This is demonstrated when Farquhar is anticipating his death, when it flashes back to the past, and when he is escaping from the execution.

A soldier rode up to Farquhar’s gate and asked for a drink of water, as his wife got the water, Farquhar questioned the soldier for information about the War. The soldier, who was a Federal scout in disguise, told Farquhar about how the “Yanks” were repairing the railroads and how they had reached the Owl Creek Bridge. Farquhar questioned the man about how he could help out to ruin the Federalists advances. The man told Farquhar about some dried driftwood and suggested that setting it on fire would easily set the whole bridge ablaze. Farquhar had no inclination that the man he had conversed with was a Federal scout who was tricking him, and so that night when we assume that Farquhar is attempting to go and burn the Owl Creek Bridge down the Federal scout catches

The story that I chose to write about his week is “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

All of the scenes the audience imagined were fake and imagined by Peyton. He had those vivid details of life, in the split seconds, prior to his death. As mentioned in the introduction, Bierce wrote “An Occurrence at Owl Creek,” and used his accounts of the war effectively in the story. According to Hal Holladay, “the use of the adverb “gently” to describe the movement of Farquhar’s [Peyton’s] dead body…are clear indications of Bierce’s cynicism” (Holladay).