The story is written in a way that makes you believe the main character is alive and free, but in reality you are reading the last wishes of a dead man. The ending definitely caught me by surprise due to author’s efforts in playing with the main character’s point of view. I think the author also performed well with descriptive words as I could paint the scenes in my head like the, “...whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration which made him giddy and sick” and “...the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel...” (Bierce 604). The use of this imagery also helped the author convey the illusion of fantasy and
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text's major themes. One of the prominent themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and one of great interest to the narrator himself, would be the omnipresent theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs in his reluctance to interact with the living world, as his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded with. Holden becomes increasingly attracted to the idea and comes close to obsession, as his mind is flooded with thoughts of death and disappearance, as well as questions which are revealed throughout the novel.
In the physical reality, mood is used to distinguish how someone feels. However in the literary world, authors tend to manipulate mood in order to draw a reader in. Within Jack Finney 's "Contents of a Dead Man 's Pocket," Finney manipulates the reader’s mood in order to capture their attention. Similarly, Richard Connell alters the readers mood by creating suspense within his story "The Most Dangerous Game," drawing the audience into the story. However, while Finney creates anxiety among the readers through description, Connell creates tension through the characters speech, thought, and describing the actions of others.
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.
Deception, Genre, Motifs and Themes in Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” The short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce was an unbelievable work of fiction. The decision to recount this story from an omniscient perspective is the thing that made this story phenomenal. Since we are encountering the greater part of the feelings that the censured man felt, we are drawn into his private world. In the event that we had heard this from a more traditional perspective, it wouldn't have been so touching or individual as it seemed to be. The way the story was told gave us the impression that we were there, floating above it, and seeing each moment.
Justice, vengeance and forgiveness are common issues amongst the characters both in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Pushkin’s short story “The Shot”. Both authors display intense irony and symbolism throughout their stories. Poe use these literary elements to create an interesting plot in which the reader can predict the future of the victim throughout the story. Pushkin uses irony to add a twist in the events that occur in his short story. While the stories are very different in context, the literary elements used to develop the plot and the characters are much the same.
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text 's major themes. One of the recurring themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye is the pervasive theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs because of his reluctance to interact with the living world. As his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded by.
These tough events led Poe to gothic themes of death, lost love. Poe’s way of writing gothic short stories of mystery and terror mixes these elements and he gives various layers of meaning in his narratives. He uses monstrous power of language in his stories and he is known with his ability to persuade his readers. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the unreliable narrating of Edgar Allan Poe in “The Cask of Amantillado”. Edgar Allan Poe is described as “... being low in agreeableness and conscientiousness since he was argumentative, untrusting, and lacked self-control” (Erica Giammarco 5).
The way an author writes a work can mean the difference between interest or the lack of interest. When first reading “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” a reader may find the ending quite a shock. However, if another author would write the same plot, the shock may not exist, but, because of the many techniques displayed by Ambrose Bierce throughout his work, readers remain interested and shocked upon first reading the last line. Techniques Bierce display in his work, such as use of point of view, literary devices, and plot developments, prove useful throughout “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by peaking the reader’s interest and keeping him or her trying to guess what exactly happened. Bierce employs two forms of point of view throughout his work, third-person omniscient and third-person limited.
Professor’s Name: Student’s Name: Course: Date of submission: Irony Authors use irony in their stories to help maintain the attention of the readers. Irony happens when the readers of the novel predict that the character or the plot in the account has an attitude or intention oppose to that which is really stated. Coraghessan Boyle through his account Carnal Knowledge uses irony to help gives the account a rather humorous tone. The way through which the narrator of the story reacts to the ironic instances assists the readers in understanding him and the meaning of the entire account. Contrastingly the use of irony in Edgar Poe Cask of Amontillado is rather tragic.