Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

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Literary Analysis “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce grew up in a small religious town in Ohio. While living in Ohio he found a new passion for serving others. Ambrose Bierce was one of the many men who fought in battle during the Civil War. After a long period of time in the war Bierce was injured, and had to resign from the military. After the war Bierce needed to express his experience somehow. Bierce decided to write numerous short stories that explained his life in battle. While reading these stories most readers can’t help but visualize themselves in the setting. In fact, that is exactly what Ambrose Bierce lived for. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” begins with the main character Peyton Farquhar. Peyton Farquhar is a slave owner that has a dream of helping those in need. One night Farquhar is taken away from his family by soldiers and left …show more content…

He now has to face man vs self once again. Throughout the story the author hints that while being hanged Farquhar dies, and the rest of the story is his dream of escaping. This dream is all a man vs self situation, because it is all happening in his head, but these dreams also contain hints of man vs nature as well. For example, the dream begins with his struggle in the water. The author states, “ Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round- spinning like a top” (Paragraph 26). The dream then suddenly turns into a fight with nature for his wife. Once on land Farquhar runs into the forest in order to find his house. “ The forest seemed interminable, nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman’s road. By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famished” (Paragraph 28). He felt like the only thing keeping him going was the thought of holding his family again. At the very end of the story, at the very last sentence the author confirm that Farquhar had died at Owl Creek

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