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

In the story it says “One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front. “The Yanks are repairing the railroads,” said the man, “and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridge, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order”’ (chapter 2 paragraph 2). Farquhar then asked the soldier how far Owl Creek bridge was and the soldier said 30 miles. Farquhar then kept asking question and then his wife came. The soldier drank the water and then left and that was when they realized he was a Federal

The man is Peyton Farquhar and he is not dead. When Farquhar fell he became unconscious but then a while later he woke up and felt a pain shooting from his neck down. In the story it says “Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck was already suffocating him and kept the water from his lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river!--the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface--knew it with reluctance, for he was now very comfortable. “To be hanged and drowned,” he thought? “That is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair”’ (chapter 3 paragraph