The short story that stood out to me the most was “ An Occurrence at Owl Creek”. It was about a man who was a plantation worker that was familiar with a bridge and did not want it destroyed by Civil War members. The man did everything to prevent it from being torn down so the members of the union captured Farquhar. He was caught in a vortex that eventually flings him on the sand. He was asleep while the Civil War members were kidnapping him. While he was asleep he was having a dream that he had escaped the trap. In the dream he was celebrating his escape, Farquhar hurries toward home, traveling all day through a wild forest straight out of a horror movie. By nightfall, Farquhar reaches the gate to his home. He sees his wife, but, as he is about …show more content…
I strongly feel as is that was not right for him to be brutally murdered for his beliefs. We as human are entitled to our own opinion. We should never be punished for our thoughts, feelings, or beliefs. Being that the members of the Civil War Union brutally murdered this man because of his beliefs is simply wrong. So the topic I selected was “ Stand Up for What You believe In”. Regardless of what is going on, you should always voice your opinion about your way of thinking, or your feelings. Never hold back your personal way of thinking unless you truthfully want to. You should always state your opinion if you feel it is necessary. If you do not ever stand for something you have strong beliefs in that will show people in society a sign of weakness. They will completely take advantage of you. If you never stand for what you honestly believe is right, people will always feel the need to say or do things to try to intimidate you. That’s why I feel we as human should always show signs of strength which is standing strong on whatever it may be that we feel is right and if it is wrong state that it is wrong. You should never feel remorseful about something you want to do. There is no need to be afraid to do what you want to
Thesis: The world today is blinded from the truth about the "Civil War" just like they are the truth of the creation vs. evolution debate. They're blinded in the same way as well, misleading text books. The truth is that the North, Lincoln, etc. weren't as great as they claimed to be, and that they went to illegal measures for an unjust cause.
Society is built on the fact that everyone is different: different gender, different hair color, different body types, and, most importantly, different opinions. Although conflict stems from different opinions, humans can not help but have their own thoughts and feelings about every situation. Different opinions, such as democrats vs. republicans or pro-life vs. pro-birth, are just a few examples, on the neverending list, of society spitting their views on a topic. Despite the fact that everyone is so different, people can learn from each other and grow their opinions after hearing the other “side of the story”. We may not always agree with each other, but we should just listen, understand, and respect the fact that everyone has different opinions.
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
“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.
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.
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.
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.
People can easily recognize that a butterfly, a horse, or a tree are alive and that a
Many people take stands for different reasons. Some take stands to send a message out
The 1890 story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce was composed with a structure that shows time fluidity. The story illustrated the perceived function of time as beyond reality as it slows down to the satisfaction of the delusions of protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, as he experiences a dying incident on the day of his execution. Farquhar was charged with the crime of an attempted act to destroy or sabotage the Owl Creek Bridge, and was thereafter sentenced to death by the Federal Army. Farquhar believes as he also leads the readers the same that he has escaped execution and has made his way back home. The dying protagonist’s experience was portrayed in a slow flow of time that seemed to exactly fit the many circumstances that occurred just in time for reality to come and take its place in time.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, to me was about a man swindled into being killed. Before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. But for this man, it was not his life, but what could’ve happened instead of him dying being played out in his mind. Peyton Farquhar was a slave owner from Alabama that highly supported the south.
And it means remembering the trade-off: Everyone gets to say what they want, as long as they don't provably harm or injure other people, and then you get to say what you want - which is indescribably and supremely valuable.
Standing up for what one believes in is crucial. Taking a stance shows that one has a robust sense of their beliefs and morals. Standing up for what one believes in takes
People in this world must stand up for what they believe because many people will take advantage of their power and infringe their rights. When Einstein said what he said about civil disobedience that you should trust a person?s conscious and not his government he was telling people to make a stand. A prime example of standing up for what you believe in and not bowing to a law or demand that a person doesn?t think is right would be Sophocles Antigone she didn?t stop trying to bury her brother because she believed it was the right thing and she stood up for herself ?I shall rest, a loved one with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime, for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living: ...
It is common to believe that if no one is stopping you from doing something, then it must be the right thing to do.... ... middle of paper ... ... When people argue that they may get hurt, sometimes we have to make sacrifices for something bigger that everyone will benefit from.