Owl Creek Bridge Ending

In Ambrose Bierce’s short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Hill, a man named Peyton Farquhar is about to be hanged for treason against the Union. While waiting to fall off the bridge to hang, Farquhar thinks back to his wife and child he left back home. He thinks of everything that brings him joy in life before his final breath. He is then dropped from the bridge, but instead of dying the rope snaps and he plunges into the water underneath the bridge. Farquhar eventually escapes his captors and makes it back home to his loving family, once again happy and at ease. Suddenly Peyton Farquhar is dead, hanging from the bridge. His escape was only a figment of his imagination. Bierce uses a plethora of literary techniques to produce suspense in his short story.

The short story is broken into three parts, with part I starting with setting the scene and using descriptive language to draw the reader in. The beginning sentence lures the reader in by describing a man standing on a bridge in northern Alabama looking down at swift water (Bierce, 1890). This immediately draws the reader in and begs you to ask questions. Why is the man standing on the bridge? Who is he? The pacing is an important factor in this short story. Part II introduces the character, Peyton Farquhar, to the audience and explains how he arrived at the bridge. The author wasn’t concerned with the reader knowing who the character is in Part I, but more concerned with setting the scene for the reader. Ambrose Bierce connected the reader with several strong themes such as the blurred lines between reality and illusion.

I believe “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is worthy to remain on the required reading list because, although Bierce shares the common element of shaping each character to their setting, class, and gender role through a realistic representation; he goes a step further by exploring the inner truths of characters through a unique narrative approach compared to other realist authors. All of the characteristics above were becoming prevalent themes in the late 19th century; as the population began to digest the aftermath effects of the Civil War, this led to the transition of Romantic literature to a bleak, realistic approach. However, unlike other contemporary writers, Bierce did not limit the narrator to the third person omniscient point of view like in Jack London’s “To Build a

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.

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.

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

who he is, what he does, and what he thinks and feels. Through pronouns such as “he”, “his” and “him”, the narrator is speaking in third person. Because the narrator 's knowledge is limited to one character, the story is written from a limited omniscient point of view. “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” is split into three sections. At the beginning of the story, the narrator states, “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama . . . a rope closely encircled his neck” (Bierce). Immediately, the reader knows the protagonist is about to be hanged and the story is taking place in northern Alabama. Through these specific details, the narrator is establishing his or her credibility. The second section breaks up the otherwise linear sequence of events with a flashback, where the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, is introduced, as well as how Farquhar was deceived into undergoing a plan to prevent Union troops from crossing Owl Creek Bridge. While the flashback may take course over a span of several days, it actually takes place in roughly fifteen seconds of “real” time. Don Asher Habibi, in his critical essay, “The Experience of a Lifetime: Philosophical Reflections on a Narrative Device of Ambrose Bierce, argues “Framing a story within a flashback is a common narrative technique”. In

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a story of a man who is fighting to live but is already dead. The foreshadowing and shock that is used in this story point towards Peyton Farquhar’s death. From neck pain to the cannon he hears really is only a mere gun that is shot at him. This story is full of literary techniques. The Irony that Peyton Farquhar a man that’s already dead thinks he has escaped but is only in his reality. Everything in this story come together to show that this man is dead no matter how hard he fights and the literary techniques and foreshadowing is great at telling you he is dead.

Sometimes, things aren’t always the way they appear to be. That is the case at Owl Creek bridge. There seem to be two stories told here—one that is, and one that isn’t. Our main character, Peyton Farquhar, finds himself in a bit of a pickle, for attempting to burn the bridge in support of the Civil War’s rebel soldiers—a feat, which if captured, would surely result in death by hanging. Farquhar’s neck is in a noose. Chances for survival are dismal, but Farquhar has a plan. In Ambrose Bierce’s, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” 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.

Ambrose Bierce in his story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” employs foreshadowing throughout the ending of the story and drops clues to signal in advance the unreliable nature of the concluding section. Bierce creates an abundant amount of foreshadowing. Most of the foreshadowing is used in part III of this short story. Some examples may include: The word “occurrence” in the title. What is going through Peyton Farquhar’s mind as he has the noose around his neck and is waiting to be hanged. Another example is where Farquhar feels a “sense of suffocation” after he falls into the water when the rope supposedly breaks.

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.

Ambrose bierce, used the word "occurence" of the short story "An occurence of owl creek bridge". Ambrose used the word "occerence", because there was an event that had happened at owl creek bridge. It was when this cilvian, Payton did something wrong. So the army decided to hang him on the bridge. Thing did not go as planned. the roped broke that was holding payton and he plunged into the water.

The plot, setting, and imagery of Ambrose Bierce’s story is important for the readers to perceive. At the beginning we start off with a mysterious man who is tangled up above a bridge awaiting to be executed, then in part II the audience meets Peyton Farquhar, a respected man and slave owner. From this the audience can concur that the story takes place during the Civil War. In part III the audience is left to wonder if Farquhar will make it home, or will he die for going against the Northern Army?

“Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge”. This line seals the fate of Ambrose Bierce’s protagonist, who believed that he could change it. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek”, Ambrose Bierce tells the story of a man struggling to face his reality. Symbolism enhances the total effect of Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek” because it leads the reader to the protagonist’s fate, adds to the imagery, and makes the reader connect smaller details to a deeper meaning.

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, is an eerie short story about a man who believes he has escaped from death but in reality, he was dreaming the whole time and is killed by the Union soldiers. I found it interesting that Farquhar truly believed that he escaped his death. Narration is a huge component with this story. Without the literary devices used, the story would not flow and the readers would not understand why the story is told the way it is. Themes that stand out within the text are the war, perception and death. This story reflects on how a person who is in danger creates a distorted perception of a serious or death threatening event.