“Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him (Bierce 1-2).” Death was ultimately present throughout much of both short stories, his sudden and striking hand took the life of many during the Civil War. Each moment of battle was soiled with sweat, blood, and tears of the soldiers. The bodies of fathers, brothers, and friends littered the battlefield, and often the death passed over members closer to home. Not only were those whose lives were lost affected, but the families of the brave men were affected devastatingly as well. The author Mark Twain approached the suddenness of death in his story “A Private History of a Campaign that Failed”. Ambrose Bierce also captured the sharp essence of death in his tale of Peyton Farquhar in “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge”.
Ambrose Bierce displays the theme of “the suddenness of death” with such a clarity even though it does not truly appear until the very last sentence of his short story. His distortion of reality is not realized until readers have fought alongside and cheered for the main protagonist Farquhar. In the first section it is learned that a man is scheduled to be executed, fleeting moments of longing for his wife and children flash through his mind. In one sudden moment the words “The sergeant stepped aside (Bierce 2)” are read. The weight of the sergeant being the only thing holding him onto life for a brief second more. In this second between life and death, Farquhar remembers the moment that led him to the noose. A simple and caring gesture for a soldier supposedly of his own Confederacy was tinged with betrayal, it had sold him to Death and there was no escape from...
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...mselves after killing their brothers? Not always were they brothers of blood, but they were all brothers of one nation before the succession. The number of men whose lives were lost were brutal and fast, even the deaths that were drawn out had a sense of quickness. Each man, woman, and child who died during the war had that sudden moment when their last breath left their fragile body.
Works Cited
Bierce, Ambrose. "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge. Fiction: The Server Collection. Web. 12 Dec 2013 http://fiction.eserver.org/short/occurrence_at_owl_creek.html.
Greenberg, Amy S. "This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War." Civil War History (2009): 82-84. Book Review.
Twain, Mark. "A Private History of a Campaign that Failed". Short Stories. East of the Web. 2011. Web. 12 Dec 2013. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/PriHis.shtml
The American Civil War is one of the biggest turning points in American history. It marks a point of major separation in beliefs from the North and the South and yet somehow ends in a major unification that is now called the United States of America. It still to date remains the bloodiest war in American History. The book “This Republic of Suffering, death and the American Civil War” by Drew Gilpin Faust better explains the change in thought from the American people that developed from the unexpected mass loss in soldiers that devastated the American people. Throughout this review the reader will better understand the methods and theory of this book, the sources used, the main argument of the book, the major supporting arguments, and what the
Margaret Mitchell once said: “They knew that love snatched in the face of danger and death was doubly sweet for the strange excitement that went with it.” The Civil war was a trying time for the American people, whether they were on the battlefield or at home. Although the name is quite deceiving, there was nothing civil about this war.I was fought with the violence and brutality that would define a century. Abraham Lincoln and Robert Lee take interesting stances on their Civil War texts Gettysburg Address and Lee’s Letter to His Son.
"Short Stories :An occurence at owl creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce." 2009. Web. 2 Dec 2009. .
Throughout literary history, one of the most amazing mysteries that still lingers in great literary minds today is about Ambrose Gwinett Bierce. He disappeared in the early 1900s never to be found again. He is remarkably remembered by his literary works of sarcasm and illusion. Throught his lasting life he wrote many fascinating short stories that reflected his experiences during his time as a soldier in combat during the American Civil War. His two most famous works being “Killed at Resaca” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek”. Through the use of war-like scenarios, sarcasm and the use of personification, Ambrose Bierce implies them all in his two most famous short stories of his time. “ Killed At Resaca and “An Occurrence At Owl Creek”.
“The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce tells the story of a man being executed. As the man dies he imagines his escape. Facing death, the man wants nothing more ten to go home to his family. During his journey home, the man comes to appreciate life. Perhaps he sees how he should have lived, only as a dying man could. When faced with death he truly begins to realize what he has lost. This story might show us how death can enlighten us about life.
Simpson, Brooks D., Stephen W. Sears, and Aaron Sheehan-Dean, eds. The Civil War: Told by Those Who Lived It. New York: The Library of America, 2011. Print.
Heidler, David S. and Jeanne T., Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, And Military History Volume 2 D-I, ABC-CLIO Inc, 2000.
Diction is strongly used in both the novel and the poem to manipulate the thoughts of the reader and to stir up emotions. The poem makes an almost undecipherable, literal tone within the sound of the rhyme scheme, also creating calm peace with a mostly unpleasant situation. An example is the reoccurring line, “I have a rendezvous with Death” (Seeger 1, 5, 11, 20). The word “rendezvous” is a nice word where a person would meet somebody out of free will, even like to two lovers seeing each other. Differently, death is the unknown for many humans to fear. The narrator has arranged to meet with an experience known as death. The narrator would only take such actions if he had reason to believe it was not as fearful an action to take as so many believe. The repetition of this line keeps this idea fresh in his audience’s mind. Similarly, in All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque uses word like forgotten and misunderstood to describe the way that outsiders think of the soldiers participating in the war. The way
Death is, perhaps, the most universal of themes that an author can choose to write of. Death comes to all things; not so love, betrayal, happiness, or suffering. Each death is certain, but each is also unique. In Other Voices, Other Rooms, Truman Capote addresses several deaths, and each is handled in its individual fashion. From the manner of the death to its effect on those it touches, Capote crafts vignettes within the story to give the reader a very different sense of each one.
In the short story “A Rose for Emily” death plays a major role in developing the story. It also shows how the death of one person can change a city as a whole. However, if you compare this story to the life of the author, William Faulkner, you can see how death in his life can contribute to why he wrote the story the way he did. The death of the people is used to add to the meaning of the work altogether. William Faulkner’s experiences add meaning to his work, “A Rose for Emily,” through several deaths and Emily’s ultimate demise.
McPherson, James M.; The Atlas of the Civil War. Macmillan: 15 Columbus Circle New York, NY. 1994.
Setting in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a mutable component and known as one of the most imperative indicators in the text to direct the reader towards how it should be perceived and what is happening. Based during the Civil War the environment was set in occupied Federal Army territory where, “a lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right.” (Bierce 399). The function of time in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" both creates positives and negatives that define the story as realist that describes moments with genuine detail, taking many paragraphs to relate a single second. Such as the moment, “ [Farquhar] looked a moment his “unsteadfast foot,” then let
Ambrose Bierce wrote "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" during the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century. During this time period the two writing styles of romanticism, and realism were coming together. This melding of styles was a result of the romantic period of writing and art coming to an end, just at realism was beginning to gain popularity. "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a perfect example of this transition of styles as it combines elements of both romanticism and realism to create a story that can be far-fetched while still believable at times.
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...
Death is depicted as an individual’s affair, in which, neither one’s closest friends or closest blood relatives can give a hand in. Upon receiving the tragic news Everyman first approaches his friend Fellowship. At first he is hesitant to reveal his sorrow to Fellowship for he considers it too tragic a plight. After cajoling and assurances by Fellowship to stand by him in whatever situation, Everyman finally pours out his sorrow to Fellowship. Upon realizing that Everyman has been summoned by death, fellowship turns his back on Everyman ...