An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce is a 19th
Century mystery story that is set at the time of the American Civil
War (1861-1865) when the Slave owning Confederate States in the South
engaged in conflict with the Federal Government of the USA. The story
focuses on a character called Peyton Farquhar, whom is about to be
summarily hung for trespassing on the Owl Creek Bridge; his fate is to
be hung from that same bridge. The story ends with a curious twist in
the plot. The main part of the story is set in Farquhar's mind, though
whilst reading the reader is unsure (despite careful, hidden hints
placed by Bierce) of this fact. Only at the end when it is clearly
stated that Farquhar is hanging lifelessly with a broken neck from the
bridge that the reader will become conclusively aware of this. It is
divided into three parts, which I will analyse, in detail, separately.
Part I
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'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' 'begins powerfully by introducing
a man, whom is not named until later on in the tale. This obviously
adds to the mystery. It describes with detail of him in somewhat a
predicament ~ " hands behind his back", " wrists bounds with a cord",
"rope closely encircled his neck". Words of such like are of a lexical
set of entrapment and give the impression that the man in question is
in danger and is unable to break free. Next, the reader learns that
"executioners" (also are soldiers from federal army) are present that
show the man has committed a crime, so is a condemned man. It raises
questions as to why he is there, and forces the reader to continue
reading. Bierce sustains more mystery by not revealing his crime until
furt...
... middle of paper ...
...y~ " Ah, how beautiful she is! He
springs forward with extended arms". Bierce lures the reader into
thoughts of joy by remarking how beautiful the wife is. Suddenly,
Bierce stops his complex illusions and proves that proves the prior
Part III was not reality, set in the min of Farquhar~ "his body swung
gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.
Conclusion
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Bierce has a unique style to pull the reader into the story. To name a
few techniques, his complex illusions keep the audience in suspense,
his detailed descriptions allow the reader to picture all aspects of
the story and the dividing of the story into three separate parts help
them to stay focused. These all work together to provide a compelling,
inspiring and powerful story. 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' is a
great example how the mind can be deceptive.
Many war stories today have happy, romantic, and cliche ending; many authors skip the sad, groosom, and realistic part of the story. W. D. Howell’s story, Editha and Ambrose Bierce’s story, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge both undercut the romantic plots and unrealistic conclusions brought on by many stories today. Both stories start out leading the reader to believe it is just another tpyical love-war senario, but what makes them different is the one-hundred and eighty degrees plot twist at the end of each story.
Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, which is a short story released in 1890, gained much popularity over the years. It is most famous for it’s manipulation of time. Though the events in the book only take seconds, the story is over eight pages long. Time seems to slow for the man in the noose and at the same time speed up for the reader. In this way, Bierce presents his manipulation of time in the story.
The short stories, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and “The Luck of Roaring Camp”, written by Ambrose Bierce and Bret Harte respectively, share similar conflicts, notions, and themes. In Bierce’s story, a man is being held for execution for his crimes in the Civil war as a part of the Confederacy; as he imagines himself cleverly escaping the military executioners through a river under the bridge, until his seemingly brilliant streak of luck ends, and he dies from the noose he never left. Similarly, in Harte’s story, an entire town in California during the gold rush is stuck with again, seemingly brilliant luck, when Thomas Luck is born, only to have that hope crushed when Thomas is killed
Imagine yourself standing on a bridge with a noose around your neck and your mind is racing a mile a minute while awaiting execution, or you are the lone spectacle standing on a scaffold, while everyone in your town has all of their eyes riveted on one person, and that person is you. Peyton Farquhar is a Confederate supporter and Hester Prynne committed the mortal sin of adultery. They were both criminals of the law and were punished for their crimes. However, to their merit, their authors established them as sympathetic characters even though what they had done was wrong.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery, the people of a small American town struggle to hold onto a gruesome tradition, one which has greatly affected the moral values of the society. In writing this story, Jackson is commenting on tradition; how, when taken to extremes, it can hinder society. THis horrible tradition of stoning people to death is a normal event from the perspective of the townspeople; one which is practised by the whole town. Early on in the story, the narrator states that the lottery “was conducted - as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program - by Mr. Summer…” (Jackson 1). As evidenced by this quote, the lottery was just another event comparable to other events that society deems normal. In other words:
It is true that in all great literature. Clues which later seem obvious are often undetected until the story’s plot is resolved. The reader is unaware of the foreshadowing until the plot comes together. Ambrose Bierces " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and " A Horseman In The Sky" identify literary elements supporting this thought.
Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” brings upon many questions relating to its change in perspectives and the focus on the character. The story is classified as realism based on the fact that the author, Bierce, focuses more on the character than the plot itself. Readers worry about the characters hanging, not about the war and the chicanery used by both opponents. Bierce also uses a change in perspective throughout the story to show emphasis on the character and his thoughts. The change alters the reality in the readers minds, in a way they truly believe that he will survive the hanging and escape free to his family. Sadly, that wouldn’t have given readers the opportunity to classify it as realism and it wouldn’t have given Bierce the chance to show the readers the way our brains play tricks on us.
There has been much examination of the more popular terms used in American literature, such as romanticism and classicism, but little examination done on literary realism. Despite realism being mostly ignored in the late nineteenth century, it has now become commonplace in American literature. Although An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce does offer some examples of literary realism in its verisimilitude of detail and idealism, there were also many instances of fantastical imagery and an unrealistic sense of time, which is contradictory to literary realism.
People can easily recognize that a butterfly, a horse, or a tree are alive and that a
In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Story of an Hour," the authors use similar techniques to create different tones, which in turn illicit very distinct reactions from the reader. Both use a third person narrator with a limited omniscient point of view to tell of a brief, yet significant period of time. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Bierce uses this method to create an analytical tone to tell the story of Farquhar's experience just before death. In "The Story of an Hour," Chopin uses this method to create an involved, sympathetic tone to relay the story of Mrs. Mallard's experience just before death. These stories can be compared on the basis of their similar points of view and conclusions as well as their different tones.
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.
Imagining Reality: The Presentation Of The Theme of Illusion VS Reality in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
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 home but in fact hallucinating while desperately trying to escape the hangmen.
Most people have had an intense realistic dream before. When you’re in such a deep dream that it seems to be so real, they can be filled with many different emotions. Sometimes the deep dream can be filled with happiness, desires, and outcomes that people hope will happen someday. On the other hand, they could be filled with sad, depressing and bleak emotions which most people fear. Occasionally, it will occur that a dream will consist of a mix of these countless emotions, which consume the victim's mind. This is the case for two similar short stories. Written by Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” is about a man by the name of Peyton Farquhar, who is slowly being
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true” (Kierkegaard)- Misleading oneself by accepting things as true or valid when they are not is a common phenomenon of nearly every human being, especially when faced with life changing of threatening situations. Self-deception can therefore be considered an option to escape reality in order to prevent oneself from dealing with the weight of a situation. Basically, those strong influencing psychological forces keep us from acknowledging a threatening situation or truth. However, oftentimes people do not realize that they are deceiving themselves, for it is mostly the action of the subconscious mind to protect especially the psychological well- being. This psychological state is depicted and in Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. He shows that people try to escape reality and seek refuge in self-deception when confronted with life-threatening situations, through characterization, alternate point of view, and the fluidity of time.