After opening his eyes and looking down at the water, Farquhar thinks about freeing his hands to swim to the bank and make his escape. In section II, Farquhar flashes back to the events that led to his punishment. One day, a Northern scout disguised as a Confederate soldier visits the plantation. The scout brings news that the Yankees have advanced and are repairing the railroads and have built a fort near Owl Creek Bridge. The scout also relays that the Yankee commander has issued an order to hang any civilian caught interfering with the railroad.
In Ambrose Bierces " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" two private soldiers of the Federal army were appointed by a sergeant to lynch Peyton Farquhar from a elderly suspended bridge because of his attempt to aid the Confederate forces. He was to be executed for aiding the confederate forces. He knew his death was at his fingertips and couldn’t help ponder its arrival. He looks at the river below observing the depth of the river. Early on in the story Ambrose portrays Peyton, from his perspective, seeing a shallow river.
It’s not till the end that we find out Peyton has been dead throughout most of the story after breaking his neck from being hung. The analysis of this story will go through the event of Farquhar’s hanging and how his imagination is his only way to escape death. It’s Peyton Farquhar’s desire to participate in the war since prior circumstances didn’t allow him to participate in the civil war. All he wanted to do was serve his side, like any brave and noble man was hoping to do during this time. The union spy planted a seed of hearsay into Farquhar’s mind and Farquhar’s desires allowed this seed to sprout into what he saw as a possibility for acknowledgement and commendation.
Since the setting of this story took place in Alabama, we know that there was a great deal of animosity between the North and South. Peyton asked a soldier that approached him and his wife about news from the front while his wife ran to get him some water. The soldier told Peyton that someone could possibly set a fire under the bridge because of all the dried driftwood there and that the bridge was only guarded by one person. We know that this was an attempt by the union to eliminate a steadfast southern supporter because of the last line, "He was a Federal scout." (par.17) I find it very odd that the couple would be so eager to speak with this soldier u... ... middle of paper ... ...ything in between your two marks.
A Lesson before Dying, one of Ernest J. Gaines later works, was written in 1993. Some of his earlier works include A Gathering of Old Men and In My Father’s House. The novel covers a time period when blacks were still treated unfairly and looked down upon. Jefferson, a main character, has been wrongly accused of a crime and awaits his execution in jail. Grant, the story’s main protagonist must find it within himself to help Jefferson see that he is a man, which will allow him to walk bravely to his fate that lies in the execution chair.
The story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, focuses on the relationship between fantasy and reality. Bierce shows the form of the main character, Peyton Farquhar, who is a slave owner in the Southern state, refusing to believe his death when he is hanged on the Owl Creek Bridge as he did participate at the front lines of the Civil War. Peyton Farquhar persuaded himself that he had escaped the hanging by jumping in the water although he never really enters the water. Bierce illustrates Farquhar’s fantasy of escaping by the imagination of Farquhar dodging bullets fired by the captain and the soldier who are responsible for his death. In fact, Bierce even exaggerated the illusion of escaping by Farquhar swimming under the
Clearly, Henry does not know why he is going to fight, he just knows that he is part of a large group of men. As the novel unfolds, it is plain that Crane is writing about the horrors and tragedies of war, even by using the idea of contrasting the events of the war with nature. Although many critics have viewed the book as a naturalistic or realistic novel, some specific examples can describe how it relates to the anti-war theme. As Henry is on guard duty one evening, he converses across the river with a Confederate soldier. "The youth liked him personally," says Crane.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” written by Ambrose Bierce, is about a man named Peyton Farquhar, who was being hung at the Owl Creek Bridge. This story takes place in the American Civil War era in Alabama where the Union army declared, “they would hang any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains.” Bierce uses many different themes in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” but his standout, and most important, themes are man vs. himself, the battle, triumph over adversity, love conquers all, and death. Bierce starts his story of a man who was about to be hung from Owl Creek Bridge. Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, from an old and highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner as well as a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and very devoted to the southern cause.
Ambrose Bierce's “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce, is the story of the hanging of a Civil War era Southern gentleman by the name of Peyton Farquhar. The story begins with an unidentified man being prepared to be hanged by a company of Union soldiers on a railroad bridge that runs over a river. He is then identified as Peyton Farquhar, a man who attempted to destroy the very bridge they are standing on based on information he was given by a Federal scout posing as a Confederate soldier. As he is dropped from the bridge to hang, the rope snaps and he falls into the river. After freeing himself and returning to the surface of the river, he realizes that his senses are all much heightened and he even “noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass” (153).
In this story, the aftermath of a regular man brings him to his death all to quickly, and we can only understand his thoughts and emotion through an author who clearly understands the demands of war. Ambrose Bierce himself was a veteran of war and knew the feeling of fighting for one’s morals, standards, and beliefs, willing to put down his life for a higher cause–whether others understood it or not. During the Civil War, after being set up mercilessly to attempt to sabotage an apparently important bridge, Peyton Farquhar, a southern plantation owner and family man, was sentenced to death by hanging and stood on the solemn Owl Creek Bridge, waiting for the black hour of his demise. In the few seconds it too... ... middle of paper ... ...elieve it’s safe to say countless of people are that hopelessly drunk man who begged for death but automatically protects himself from destruction. It’s only human, after all.