Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" seems to have been written to skillfully play with the minds of its readers. The ending of "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" can prompt the question, "What just happened?" Present becomes the past, gets lost in a sort of dream world and then comes back to the present sense again. Bierce's infamous character Peyton Farquhar is known to raise eyebrows just by the mention of his name. Farquhar's grizzly end was due to a clever disguise by a Federal Scout, but exactly how clever was it? What if this entire ordeal was planned in such a way to have Farquhar killed on purpose?
As quoted from the short story, "Peyton Farquhar was a well to do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family." (Bierce, Section II) Since Farquhar is obviously experienced in his work and does a good job at it too, then people must know about him. Coming from a respected family also puts his name out there. In today's modern society, the wealthy and famous have their every move tracked down to the tee. If Peyton Farquhar family tree is one that is well known then most people in the village must be aware of his whereabouts. "Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause". (Bierce Section II) The phrase "being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician" is Bierce's own use of an aphorism, a tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion. Bierce also uses a great deal of imagery, not only in this section but the entire short story as well, to put a strong visual into the reader's mind of how the war is being fought. The fact that Bierce considers a slave owner to be synonymous w...
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.... Since "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" takes place during the Civil War, there is obviously a lot of history tied into the story. Because of the South's inability to get a large number of soldiers, a decision to conduct guerrilla warfare was made in 1861. Civilians were often organized to wage warfare against the Union troops by disrupting Union communications and supply lines. Since Peyton Farquhar was well known for doing anything to aid the South, it would be not be surprising if he had been one of the civilians to engage in these attacks. The North could have easily found out about it and learned his name and information, giving them cause to kill him. The fact that Farquhar is so obsessed with wanting to be in the army also shows how much the male strives to be known as the "strong gender" and feel as if a victory in battle will help them achieve this.
According to Baybrook, “Peyton Farquhar believes -- as do the readers -- that he has escaped execution and, under heavy gunfire, has made his way back home” (Baybrook). One of Bierce’s main means to achieve this goal of forcing the reader to buy into his delusion is ‘time’. Because ‘time’ is utilized to calibrate human experiences, it becomes obscure, altered and split in times of extreme emotional disturbance. The time that is required for hanging Farquar seems to be indefinite, however, Bierce goes the extra mile and indicates that there is a certain ‘treshold of death’ that lingers beyond recognition. When it is exceeded, it results in a distorted and blurred pe...
Particularly, Peyton Farquhar was an innocent civilian and a family man willing to help the southern cause. In part II of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” a Confederate soldier stopped at Peyton’s plantation and discussed about burning down the bridge. The soldier implied that Peyton should do it. As a result, Peyton went down to the bridge in an attempt to burn the bridge. Afterwards, we learned that the Confederate soldier was a federal scout and that he had framed
Bierce broke this story down into three parts. The first part of the narrative creates an atmosphere with the setting at Owl Creek Bridge. Great detail is told here as to who is present at the scene, what is happening, what the scene looks like, etc. But the reader only receives ideas and thoughts from one person, Peyton Farquar. The first part as like the other two parts of this story is written very systematically and clear. Even with such a structured set up, the author still manages to put great anticipation and fearsome emotion into the near end of the first part of this story. At this point the author makes the reader think Peyton is devising a way to set his hands free from the rope thereby beginning his journey to escape home.
In writing this story, Bierce is commenting on war itself and the contrast between this romanticized tale of heroism and the gruesome reality the hundreds of thousands of men had to face, and still have to face to this very day. The true horrors of war are never normally publicized, and this is why the populace is willing to go and fight. In the case of Peyton Farquhar, this ignorance lead to his blind patriotism, which in turn lead to his death. As the narrator relates to the reader: “Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army [...] and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.” (Bierce 2). The aforementioned quote is most definitely an affirmation of the grandeur of the military, and this is the perspective that Peyton Farquhar and many men shared. It is this illusion of grandeur that corrupts many men (and women) to head out and die in horrible
Ambrose Bierce composed the story with great technique. He first arose reader's sympathy for Peyton Farquhar, which caused them to accept the idea of an escape. Then, he hid those evidences between the lines and created a tense atmosphere to make readers pay less attention to those abnormal narratives. It was not until the end that he brought out the truth explicitly. So to conclude, the reader's sympathy for Peyton Farquhar, and the way Ambrose Bierce composed his story, contribute a lot to their feeling of being deceived.
Lucy Bednar explains in her criticism that Bierce uses three different voices throughout his story. In the first part of the story Bierce set up the scene. There is a man, Peyton, with a noose around his neck about to be hanged by the Northern soldiers during the civil war. Peyton is barely standing on a plank of the bridge and there are soldiers all over the place ready to
Peyton Farquhar was the main character in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” and essentially the only character discussed besides the disguised Federal Scout. Farquhar was around thirty-five years old. He was a plantation owner in the South. The man’s “features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well fitted frock coat. He wore a moustache and pointed beard, but no whisker; his eyes were large and dark grey and had a kindly expression” (Bierce 503). Bierce was trying to create a character in which readers would feel sympathetic. Despite his rash decision, Bierce clings readers to the hope that Farquhar will survive. Bierce is showing that even if an individual is of great status and wealth, his or her choice has
The authors, Ambrose Bierce of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' and Edger Allan Poe of 'The Tell Tale Heart' have unique styles to pull the reader into the story. Both authors use unreliable narrator and imagery to allow the reader to picture and follow the narrator's way of thinking. In the Tell Tale Heart, the man is very repetitious and his psychotic behavior is what intrigues the overall dark madness of The Tell Tale Heart. In Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Bierce uses illusions to allow the reader to follow wherever his ideas lead which also intrigues the overall dark madness effect.
The short story starts by creating curiosity with the revelation that a man will be hung in the owl creek bridge. At that moment the reader does not know the reasons for which the man will be sentenced. In the second section, the name of the man who will be hanged is mentioned, the motives for his crime and how he was captured. The final section illustrates the struggle Peyton Farquhar was facing and the events that went through your mind at that moment. He imagined/dream that he escape and peaceful return to their home. But the reality is another and his life ends in darkness and silence. (Bierce 201-209)
The setting of the story is in a small area of Northern Alabama, but the setting has multiple locations within the different scenes of the story. In the first section of the story, Farquhar is in preparation to be hung at Owl Creek Bridge. Before Farquhar’s dreadful hanging, Bierce takes the audience back to the past where Farquhar seems to be the owner of a plantation. In this scene, Farquhar is consulting with a spy from the union who has effectively disguised himself as a thirsty confederate soldier. The
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is written by Ambrose Bierce. Ambrose Bierce uses foreshadowing to show the shock effect allowing one to know Peyton is going to die. This short story took place during the Civil War. Peyton is caught tarnishing with the bridge and is sentenced to be hanged. Ambrose Bierce used foreshadow and literary techniques to tell the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”.
The short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, is set back during 1860s during the American Civil War. In the first chapter of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge paragraph 1 it is describing a man and where he is and what is happening. In the story, it describes how the man is. The story says “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrist bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees.” The man is going to be hung and the story is describing how the man is. The man was young and he had a wife and children. The man kept thinking
(611). Peyton is able to avoid all of the Union army’s fire, even though many soldiers were at the bridge to prevent what he is doing, escaping. While this may seem contradictory to a realist literary work, Peyton’s whole escape was only in his head. The fact that Peyton dreamed about making a unfavorable escape, and it not happening supports the trait of realistic events in realist works. In another example the author states, “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.
"Short Stories :An occurence at owl creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce." 2009. Web. 2 Dec 2009. .
The simple yet complex story of “An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a thrilling story having your thoughts twist and turn. Many love the way Bierce customs symbolism all throughout his story. Bierce uses Peyton Farquhar the protagonist of the story how his life is going. Peyton is a man who lives in Alabama who had done a crime, then again also while telling more less it he uses many situations of realism. Bierce shows us the way to turn objects into meaning and make our minds follow though his allusions.