Some people may describe their lives as being ordinary while others may say that their life is extraordinary in comparison. People at some point in their lives will have to make decisions that will take them down different paths, and the paths people choose will determine what journey they may face and what will become of their future. While human life can be described as a journey, it is often described as being either a physical or spiritual one for its travelers.
First, human life can be depicted as a spiritual and physical journey for people in life. In the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, it tells of a man being hanged over the edge of the bridge and the events that transpire after the noose around his neck breaks. The journey for Peyton Farquhar in the story is a spiritual one based on the fact that while he is waiting to be hanged he imagines trying to get away and overcoming certain obstacles to reach the safety of his family. Bierce writes, “By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on” (87). The obstacles that Peyton overcomes in his mind is a way for him to find an escape from the idea of him being hanged, and while he is dodging bullets and refraining from drowning he is thinking of his family as a safe place. In his story, Bierce states, “He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine” (88). He reaches his beautiful home and he sees his wife gliding down the stairs with her arms outstretched for an embrace. Peyton’s family and home symbolize heaven in the way it is described as being perfect and unearthly. His home is where his mind carries him as he is about t...
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...her small body. Some people may experience a more spiritual journey by strengthening their religion, accomplishing certain goals, or making peace with others. For example, the person in Dickinson’s poem makes peace with her death and passes on into an afterlife with Death at her side. People have different experiences in their life to find their way and those decisions can be a meaningful journey for the people who travel it.
Works Cited
Bierce, Ambrose. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Roberts and Zweig 83-88.
Dickinson, Emily. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” Roberts and Zweig 653-54.
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Roberts and Zweig 1096.
Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig, eds. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Longman-Person, 2012. Print.
Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” Roberts and Zweig 314-19.
Throughout all texts discussed, there is a pervasive and unmistakable sense of journey in its unmeasurable and intangible form. The journeys undertaken, are not physically transformative ones but are journeys which usher in an emotional and spiritual alteration. They are all life changing anomaly’s that alter the course and outlook each individual has on their life. Indeed, through the exploitation of knowledge in both a positive and negative context, the canvassed texts accommodate the notion that journeys bear the greatest magnitude when they change your life in some fashion.
Kirsznerand and Mandell, Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Earl McPeek. USA: Harcout, Inc., 2001, 1997,1994,1991. 388-395
The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2013. 1471 - 1534 -.
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
The theme in “An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge” is brought together by three necessary literary elements. The author incorporates symbolism into the story to help support the theme that nobody can escapes death and how thoughts in the mind are so substantial in the consciousness that it can take over the reality. The author uses symbolism to support the theme that nobody can escape death Bierce showed the piece of driftwood slowly being carried away. That piece of driftwood brought hope to Peyton Farquhar, because of this his mind started to wonder out of reality. He started to go into a fantasy world where he could escape and become that driftwood in the currents of the rivers. By giving Fargher this hope the author was able to allow him to escape in only his mind. Showing that there was no reality for the execution to go undone. The author lead us into such a unbelievable r...
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2013). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and
Abcarian, Richard. Literature: the Human Experience : Reading and Writing. : Bedford/Saint Martin's, 2012. Print.
Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is about a young woman who is going about her everyday life when death invites her to a carriage ride. The young woman then decides to go with Death, because he stopped for her. She casts aside everything she was doing just to accompany Death on a ride. Although they travel slowly they pass many things including a schoolyard, field of grain, and a grave referred to as a house. By the end of the poem the speaker realizes that they are riding off into eternity. The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is an allegory that represents the speaker’s view on death and the afterlife.
Roberts, Edgar V., Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th Compact Edition, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2008, print
Meyer, M. (2013). Bedford introduction to literature: Reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford Bks St Martin’s.
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading & Reacting & Writing. 4th ed. Boston: Earl McPeek, 2000. 388-423.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2010). Literature an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama and
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 8th. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.