Bear Mountain Bridge: A Short Story

It is 1933. Construction begins. 1937, this landmark is completed and opened to pedestrians and vehicles. It is built at a cost of approximately $35.5 million and comes in under budget and ahead of schedule. World War I veteran Harold Wobber, this landmarks first suicide, claimed, "This is where I get off,” and then jumps to his death. Now jump to 2013. Nearly 1,600 people have committed suicide by jumping off. The average number of suicides from this landmark is three per month. The Golden Gate Bridge was an example of a feat of engineering.

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.

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

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.

In the small town of Waco, Texas who would have thought it was once well known for the structure of a bridge, the Waco Suspension Bridge to be exact. Up until 1870, the Brazos River was just a simple river that had no special meaning to it. The land around it was empty, occasionally you would find cattlemen pushing their cattle across stream, but that was only because you could not find one bridge that spanned the eight hundred miles of river flowing through Central Texas. This caused a serious transportation issue for merchants and travelers. It became clear that a better means of crossing the river was necessary.

“The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce tells the story of a man being punished for a crime. While he is dying, he vividly imagines his escape, the one thing that urges him on is the thought of his family. “White Heron,” by Sarah Orne Jewett follows a girl named Sylvia who lives in a small country home with her grandmother. She has a simple life: walking with her cow and hanging out with the forest creatures. However, when a young hunter arrives on the scene with a very alluring offer, Sylvia is faced with a tough decision. The setting of the short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, is in northern Alabama during the Civil War. The short story, “A White Heron”, takes place in New England during the summer on a farm. Throughout the short stories both Jewett and Bierce, describe the similar scenes a pond, a forest, and a faint sunlight.

An occurrence at owl creek bridge” is an elaborately devised commentary on the fluid nature of time. The story which moves from the present to the past to what is revealed to be the imagine present, reflects this fluidity as well as the tension that exists among competing notions of time. What at first appears to be the continuous flow of the execution taking place in the present moment. After the present moment of the fluid of nature peyton farquhar thinks and feels very good about the great detail about Farquhar hanging. Farquhar really didn’t know much about the soldiers that execute him and he don’t know what they were thinking about. Farquhar thinks that the soldiers are acting a lot from the other soldiers. Now they are trying to find out if the soldiers feel guilty.The soldiers might have a different mind into the hanging of Farquhar and they think that farquhar had a mind as he faces him death.

Out of all the stories I have read in class so far, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, has touched me most. When I first began reading the story I felt as though I was not interested, because my assumptions of what the story was going to be about were completely different than the stories actual content. As I set aside my judgment and let myself try to enjoy the story, I found myself anxiously reading to the bitter end. This story was not only interesting and unique, but also had an added twist at the end, which surprised most readers. Depending on how observant the reader is with picking up on foreshadowing and symbolic meaning, one may realize before the final sentences that Peyton Farquar was not actually escaping

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable”(Howard Zinn). In “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” centers the idea that in war innocents can be killed just as much as the people who fight. Ambrose Bierce is against the idea of war and produces a story shows what can happen to the common people who are not involved in the fighting if the war. The mood of the story is found by the reader not by specific word choice, but by the events that take place in the text. Events such as the betrayal of Peyton Farquhar and his impending death thoughts of his family makes the reader feel frustrated. Bierce is against war and what effects can come out of war, so he tells the story of a

Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” shows that time can be viewed from many different perspectives. Time is a barrier that can be broken, changed, or viewed differently depending on the state of mind of the individual and the situation that individual is in or has been through. The story shows Farquah in multiple situations of time throughout the story due to different situations he was presented and different events he was going through. The radio lab show “ slow” is about a man named Kohn Ashmore who is disabled mentally but doesn’t realize until it’s shown to him. This story shows a different view of time that Kohn experiences in his life. Many substantial events can change the view of time for a person.

Peyton Farquhar dies. Although the story vividly pictures him escaping his fate, the last line of the tale describes him hanging under the bridge with a broken neck. One might suffer from temporary shock after reading, but Ambrose Bierce, the author of “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge”, slides foreshadowing into his work in order to hint the audience of the conclusion. Bierce uses imagery, plot elements, and his character’s thoughts to let readers have a guess at Peyton Farquhar’s final fate.

Stretching across the San Francisco Bay stands the world famous Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge is located in one of nature’s most beautiful settings, spanning the mile-wide bay from Fort Point in San Francisco to the Marin County Shore. Joseph Strauss, specializing in bridge building, was the leader of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. The start of construction began on January 5, 1993 and, after four years, was completed on April 27, 1997. The bridge was needed to be built because of the growing population after the California Gold Rush. The bridge was a difficult task for engineers and is now an inspiration. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the largest suspension bridges and is well known around the world. The Golden Gate

As I sat in Brooklyn Bridge Park, across the river, I felt apathetic. I had been there a couple of times before but never by myself. I was deliberately avoiding eye contact with everyone, trying to focus on the river and the scenery across from me. I was feeling embarrassed as I felt as though people were watching and judging me for intently watching the view across from me. One building in particular stuck me, it was a slanted building trying to survive in a place with straight Skyscrapers and huge buildings. Instead of connecting with it and feeling as though I was inadequate when compared to my fellow human beings, I felt no sorrow for the building. It didn't seem to think that it was inferior in any way, nor did it think it was insignificant.