ipl-logo

Peyton Farquhar In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

819 Words4 Pages

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Plot- Peyton Farquhar is a plantation owner from Northern Alabama who is being hanged to death for aiding the Confederate cause during the Civil War. He is standing on a plank of the bridge with his hands bound and a noose around his neck. He thinks of his family and home during his final seconds. After the Captain gives the signal, the Sergeant moves from the plank and Farquhar is suspended from the bridge by the rope. Farquhar was unable to join the Confederate Army, but still wants to aid their cause. A confederate soldier rode to his house and gives Farquhar a mission to burn the Owl Creek Bridge, but then it is revealed that the soldier is a Federal scout. Farquhar became unconscious and awoke to the pressure in his neck feeling immense pain and suffocation. The rope snaps and he plummets into the creek below. Farquhar miraculously frees his bound hands and takes the rope off from his neck. He swims to safety while a volley …show more content…

The description of the setting and of Farquhar’s surroundings makes up for the lack of character interaction. The men who hold Farquhar’s life in their hands are superficially described, but are very flat characters. Irony- Farquhar is being put to death for a crime he did not commit. He is being executed on the bridge that he intended to burn down. These are both examples of dramatic irony. Symbolism- The driftwood in the creek (396) represents his desire to escape death and his unavoidable fate. The ticking of his watch is described in great detail (396). This represents the final moments he has left and signals the passage of time in the story. Farquhar’s wife (401) is a symbol of hope and is the climax of his delusion. She represents his longingness to go home and be with his family. Tone- The tone of the author sounds emotionally detached the main character’s condition. He does not judge Farquhar, and makes the protagonist’s delusion feel like

Show More
Related

  • Peyton Farquhar Quilty

    1113 Words  | 5 Pages

    Then Farquhar asked the following question: “Suppose a man—a civilian and student of hanging—should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel. What could he accomplish?” This is a direct foreshadow to the criminal act Farquhar plained to accomplish. Right here is proof of his not so subtle questioning so he can see exactly what would happen and could be accomplished if he went up to Owl Creek Bridge to destroy government property out of pure loyalty and dedication to the South. Right here, is where we see his true manifest intentions and see behind his not-so-friendly disguise.

    Read More

  • Owl Creek Bridge Letter

    382 Words  | 2 Pages

    The soldier was very specific and interested in delaying information about the Owl Creek Bridge. It seemed as if he was insinuating that you should burn down the bridge yourself. It is no secret that the Farquhar family is highly respected and extremely devoted to the southern cause. You, Farquhar are even more devoted than anyone else; and if it were not for those

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In An Occurrence At Owl Bridge Creek

    909 Words  | 4 Pages

    “An Occurrence at Owl Bridge Creek” takes place in the Southern United States during the American Civil War. One thing to remember about the Civil War is that most of the fighting took place on southern soil, and for the Union to succeed in winning the war, their forces had to conquer the South. Not only that, but due to the agriculture being so profitable in the South, few southerners saw a need for industrial development, which resulted in the need to destroy the blockades to prevent northern troops from advancing southward. Late in the Civil War, the Union and the Confederacy strived to dominate the rail lines in northern Alabama, with the Confederates frantically dismantling critical establishments to delay the northerners advance and fracture

    Read More

  • Summary: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    When a federal spy disguised as a confederate soldier tricks Farquhar into risking his life to become the hero he had always dreamed of, Farquhar is put in his unfortunate situation. Farquhar inability to recognize the difference between a federal spy and a confederate soldier leads him to the decision that results in his untimely death. The story itself gives the readers a false sense of hope that Farquhar might actually escape his own death. Palmisano illustrates the author's deception when he writes"Bierce does not overtly inform the reader that Farquhar's escape is a hallucination but expects that the careful reader will realize the impossibility of events described in the final section of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Bierce expresses his disdain for the deceptive tactics used during the civil war by causing the reader to feel remorse for Farquhar's death.

    Read More

  • An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Essay

    948 Words  | 4 Pages

    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. Peyton Farquhar, a plantation owner in his mid-thirties, is being prepared for execution by hanging from an Alabama railroad bridge during the American Civil War. Farquhar, a supporter of the Confederacy, learns from a soldier that Union troops have seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it. The soldier suggests that Farquhar might be able to burn the bridge down if he can slip past its guards.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Verbal Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

    581 Words  | 3 Pages

    Verbal irony in literature occurs when one thing is said but means something else, situational irony is present when the reader’s expectations of what is going to happen differs from what actually happens, and dramatic irony is when the reader knows more than the characters. Throughout the story “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses irony to prefigure Fortunato’s imminent death. “The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark story involving two men, Montresor and Fortunato, who were at one point friends. Fortunato wronged Montresor many times, but when he made an unknown insult towards him it sets Montresor on a path of revenge and murder (Poe 108).

    Read More

  • Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

    425 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” demonstrates several foreshadowing techniques to predict Farquhar’s fate, such as imagery and preternatural plot elements. The preternatural ability to hear a watch ticking at a vociferous volume reveals that Farquhar was simply imagining that his time is ticking away. Also, the use of imagery when he is unnaturally describing the distant trees in great detail shows that he is dreaming about that as well and not living in reality, so he has not escaped the fact that he will die in real

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ambrose Bierce's An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge

    488 Words  | 2 Pages

    We see how afraid he is to die, and who was important enough to him for him to spare his last thoughts on. Peyton Farquhar is a slave owner minutes away from death, in this story we see what Peyton thinks he deserves and, what he values above all else. Peyton Farquhar is the main character of this story and is about to die by hanging. He stands above a creek with a noose around his neck knowing

    Read More

  • Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

    1452 Words  | 6 Pages

    Farquhar stands on the bridge, hands tied and able to see all that's around him. He stands over the river thinking of his family and the possibility of escaping. He begins to fall into the river and tries to make his way home escaping death. He finally arrives home with

    Read More

  • Use Of Irony In The Masque Of The Red Death

    541 Words  | 3 Pages

    No one can defeat Death There once was a young woman, who strived to be immortal, this caused her to bind herself away from the world for years. She decided one day that she had conquered death by changing her fate and goes to venture the town where she met a strange man, who insults her, filled with anger she decides to go after him where she faces death. A very similar situation is portrayed in “The Masque of the Red Death” with the character Prince Prospero, who believes that he has changed his fate by locking himself in his palace for years but this doesn’t end well for him as he faces death in his own home. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, irony and symbolism to is used prove that death is inevitable.

    Read More

  • An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Analysis

    971 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story begins with Confederate farmer, Peyton Farquhar, staring down into the water, noose around his neck, surrounded by soldiers who are responsible for his unfortunate demise. In the moments leading up to his hanging, his reality and perception of time become distorted and, "A sound which he could neither ignore nor

    Read More

  • Irony In The Tell-Tale Heart And The Lottery

    471 Words  | 2 Pages

    The demonstration of the narrator's imagination unconsciously leads his own thoughts to grow into a chaotic mess that ultimately ends in a death. By murdering, it’s his own way of finding peace. He is portrayed as being a sadist, sick man with an unnatural obsession for

    Read More

  • Empathy And Resilience In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

    1066 Words  | 5 Pages

    Meursault is given a Lawyer who empathizes with him, the lawyer feels sorry for Meursault, believing he wasn't in the right state of mind and that he should be exonerated. Meursault does not accept the Lawyer's empathy as he feels no connection with him, and believes the Law should be up holded in a fair fashion as he killed the man with intent. Meursault is sentenced to death. The initial blames the court and society for the lack of empathy, and how the society in which Meursault lives values emotional expression, and his lack of emotion makes him an outcast. He emphasizes with others that have faced the death sentence and builds his resilience to face it.

    Read More

  • Cask Of Amontillado Irony Essay

    657 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is the narrative of a man named Montresor who seeks vengeance against a man named Fortunato. Fortunato insults Montresor. Next, Montresor meet Fortunato at a carnival, eventually luring him into the catacombs of his home to bury Fortunato alive. Moreover, different types of irony are portrayed in this short story. Dramatic irony consists of the character in the story knowing less about his or her situation than the reader.

    Read More

  • The Rocking Horse Winner And An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    1001 Words  | 5 Pages

    Farquhar gets captured by the Union troops and he realizes that he’s going to die from getting hanged. Meanwhile, the noose is around Farquhar neck and he starts to daydream about the possibility of noose breaking and falling into the creek. He then escapes the Union troops, and finds himself back home where his wife awaits him. As soon as he tries to embrace his wife he is forced back into reality by being hanged.

    Read More

More about Peyton Farquhar In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Open Document