An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Analysis Essay

In the short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, written by Ambrose Bierce, he tells the story of white southerner during the American Civil War who has committed a crime against the Union and is punished to death by hanging. Throughout the short story Bierce takes us the readers on a journey through northern Alabama filled with suspense and foreshadowing. Through the entire short story Bierce uses many different types of foreshadowing to anticipate the fate of the main character. Bierce foreshadows the ending of the story in three ways, 1.) Peyton Farquhar’s heightened senses, 2.) at the commencement of part III he expresses that Peyton Farquhar is already dead, and 3.) Bierce uses inmediares to convey foreshadowing to us the readers.

Shadows of Death In the story, Peyton Farquhar dies, but as a reader, we do not learn this fact until the very end. Ambrose Bierce hides this fact until the end by providing an adventure through the mind of a dying Peyton Farquhar. Along the incredible journey of “escape”, Bierce alludes to the inevitable end to which the reader is captured by the idea that Peyton Farquhar could actually get away. The short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has several literary techniques that capture the reader’s attention.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was a story written by Ambrose Bierce. He wrote it to be a suspenseful and confusing short story. The suspense brought on by Bierce employed to clench one's attention throughout this short story by using numerous literary techniques. With his use of imagery Bierce displayed that, in his mind, Farquhar, while being hanged, still had all of his thoughts and he believed that he was escaping the army, bringing suspense to the story. Farquhar thought that the rope had snapped and that he had fallen into the water, he imagined himself escaping the military by swimming away.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" begins with the capture of the protagonist Peyton Farquhar, a plantation and slave owner. Bierce paints a vivid picture of the surroundings around Farquhar as he awaits to be hanged. It then flashes back to the days leading up to the hanging. Where Farquhar was deceived by a federal spy claiming to be a confederate soldier. In the end, we see Farquhar escape from reality as he is serving his sentence to finally his demise. Throughout the story we can tell by the way Ambrose Bierce uses military terminology that he had served in the military during the Civil War (Grenander) "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" carries the reader back to the American Civil War to experience the final days of Peyton Farquhar, and to reflect on the events and ultimate deception that brought him to his fate

How do you cope with the reality of day to day life? I would like to think I handle the reality of day to day life moderately well like everyone else. However, I began to question myself once again as I read Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” This story, with its unexpected ending, had me rereading it several times to pull out key details that led me down the wrong path the first time. As you can tell from the title, something big happened at the Owl Creek Bridge, but you have to wait until the end of the story to find out the truth, or else you could be lost in someone’s daydream. The story had me intrigued by the different directions it could take you, but it all made sense in the end, and I discovered you sometimes have to dig a little deeper to find the whole truth about someone.

While reading the 5 fiction short stories there became a common pattern between 3 stories and the characters in them. These stories are “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence, “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Every character has the mindset to possibly fulfill their goals to better and/or change their lives.

In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the central character Peyton Farquhar functions as a symbol of romanticism. He is an idealistic man with a decidedly romantic view of war: “no service was too humble for him…no adventure too perilous” (Bierce 320). In addition, Farquhar’s reemergence from underwater is a classic romantic rebirth image (Owens 85). Yet while Farquhar himself represents romanticism, Bierce’s characterization of him is far from rose-colored. Bierce makes uses of burlesques to transform Farquhar from a romantic symbol to a satiric object.

Many were unsupportive of war, especially the Civil War, and when it erupted writers attacked the ideology and logic of the violence. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, follows the imagination of a Confederate citizen who is executed for attempting to burn a bridge. The story captures his final thoughts and outlines his plan for escape, though it is never enacted. Bierce advises his readers to stay out of dangerous situations which do not affect their personal lives, in particular, events that only serve to boost their ego. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Bierce uses figurative language to highlight his disapproval of military and war, meanwhile critiquing the main character’s decision to be involved with violence.

In the essay “I’m Jumping Off the Bridge,” Kevin Sampsell argues that life has more meaning to it than what is recognizable in order to convince the audience that no matter what feelings one has inside, assuming that there is no one and nothing to live for is not the truth. Sampsell deals with his struggles of depression and harmful thoughts after he meets a man at his job that expresses his feelings and desires to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge. In this essay, Sampsell uses morose word choices to effectively show insight, heartbreak, and the responsibilities that involve one’s life after death. He is eloquent in his description of pain and desolation and has a rhetorical appeal, oriented around pathos, in his relatability. The reader

Tension Ambrose Bierce creates suspense in his short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. By using literary techniques such as story structure, imagery, characterization, time, setting. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is about a man who in the civil war is trying to burn the union bridge but is caught and we see his hanging. The first literary technique that Bierce uses to create suspenses is time.

Farquhar was able to deviate away from the reality of his death through his vivid imagination. He escaped all the pain that he otherwise would have felt. Upon falling down the bridge, his defense mechanism kicked in and led him to imagine an escape he desired. He didn’t feel any pain for he quickly “lost consciousness and was as one already dead.” He was not in fear during his last moments because he believed that “despite his suffering … he now (stood) at the gate of his own home.”

Literary analysis of “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce, the Author of “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” about a man who was being hanged, throughout the story Peyton hallucinates and thinks that he has escaped the hanging but in reality he’s dying. Bierce uses symbolism in “ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to foreshadow that Peyton is going to die. There are multiple allusions throughout the story that Bierce used to convey the death of Peyton. Imagery is used throughout the entire story to show that Peyton is hallucinating. Throughout the entire story Bierce uses multiple literary techniques to foreshadow Peyton’s death.

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” revolves around the manipulation of time through the conflict of man versus nature. Bierce uses time in his favor as he switches between the past and the present life of the main character, Peyton Farquhar, as he lives his last moments. He uses this to show how time can be “subjective and phenomenal during times of emotional distress”. (BookRags). The manipulation of time that is unnoticeable whilst reading the story strengthens the themes that are present in this work, such as man’s denial of mortality, and the conjuring of irrational situations.

Everyone with a family cares for each other, even when they are dying or want to die. Sometimes when family members are dying, it brings the family close together, which is a good thing. But sometimes the one family member feels left out or they don’t what is happening in their life, so they want to die, which is not always the best answer. “The Hitchhiker” by Lucille Fletcher is a play about a son that is going to California for a trip. “ An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” is a short story that is about Peyton who died hanging from a bridge.

The thought was agonizing …… But it added to my pain to think that the good old aunt, who had always been so kind to her sister's orphan children, should be shut up in prison for no other crime than loving them" (Harriet 579) well reflects the inner conflict, and guiltiness created by her escape. Nevertheless, there is a difference in a way each writing addresses those characteristics. " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" uses third person limited point of view, which is a common characteristic found in literatures of realism.