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Owl Creek Bridge Figurative Language

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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. …show more content…

Farquhar wanted to fight,“Who was at heart a soldier”(832). The whole story portrays the man as a fighter who can get out of sticky situations, though he has never gone through a day of military training. It was ironic he believed he could actually escape execution and proves how powerless he in saving himself. The story romanticizes abilities he wish he had. In the end his daydreams were not enough to save him, “His body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side” (840). This is the climax of where Bierce displays his beliefs of hatred towards war and fighting, since the “soldier-at-heart” is hung. He is not able to escape, like fairytales, because wars are real and people die, it is not a great adventure that people like to believe. Bierce resents war and hints to this undertone throughout An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, masking it with figurative language. Bierce subtly hints throughout the story about the folly of war and its destructions rather than its ability to solve disputes. Bierce believes that war is glorified by those who never fought, but it is truly deadly and destructive to the

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