ipl-logo

How Does Bierce Create Suspense In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

530 Words3 Pages

The short story “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce takes place during the Civil War. In this story, Peyton Farquhar, a plantation owner is sentenced to hanging for attempting to burn the Owl Creek Bridge. There are many points in the story where Bierce develops suspense. Before readers start reading Bierce sets the story in media res. Media res is latin for “the middle of things.” Because of Bierce doing so, it creates suspense by allowing the reader to wonder what is happening or what will happen next. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” develops suspense due to the settings, the use of Peyton Farquhar’s senses, and the use of flashbacks. One example of how Bierce creates suspense is the way he uses flashbacks. Flashbacks

Show More
Related

  • Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    312 Words  | 2 Pages

    An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a story created by literary genius Ambrose Bierce and is set during Civil War times… The short story tells the narrative of Peyton Farquhar, a sympathizer of confederates who has been sentenced to his end by lynching from the Owl Creek Bridge…An occurrence at owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce shows why having an imagination is critical in making it through impossible times… An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a richly formulated observation on the flowing nature of time and need for imagination when a person going through tricky situation in his life… In the short story, the main character, Farquhar, generates his dream world out of desperation… Farquhar is on the verge of death, and imagining that escape

    Read More

  • Suspense In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    528 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Lottery And An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    766 Words  | 4 Pages

    “An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. The story is based on Peyton Farquhar, a plantation owner being prepared for execution by hanging from an Alabama bridge during the american civil war. Farquhar is a confederate supporter that learns that the union troops have taken over the owl creek railroad bridge. A union soldier in disguise told Farquhar to burn down the bridge, he of course falls for this for the soldiers trick because he doesn’t believe the war is fair. He was caught by the union guards and sent to be executed immediately.

    Read More

  • The Pastillado Rhetorical Analysis

    569 Words  | 3 Pages

    This type of suspense also causes the reader to “have to” keep reading. A few pages later, the author creates suspense again when Sorrento says “sit down Wade.” Even though they have his home wired with explosives, he still logs out. The author again drops off and waits at least half a page until he makes the bomb go off. Once again, the reader has to think “was he bluffing or not” and makes the reader continue to read when suddenly, bang, there 's your

    Read More

  • Summary: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    "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.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    688 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literary Analysis: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, written in 1890, is a story about the lengths one will go to escape death, and the vanity of man. Part one of this three part story begins with a gentleman who let himself be tricked by “soldiers of the Federal Army”. He is awaiting his execution for plotting against the Union and attempting to set the bridge on fire. He thinks about his wife and children, all while standing on the edge of a plank on the Owl Creek Bridge, with his hands bound and a noose wrapped firmly around his neck. He dreams up an elaborate escape plan, one that he knows is not only impossible but bound to fail.

    Read More

  • Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

    425 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, a respected Alabama planter and slave-owner, Peyton Farquhar, is being hanged for disobeying an order from the Yanks. The order is to stay away from bridges during a Civil War advance, and Farquhar is conspiring to blow up a bridge. Farquhar’s demise is foreshadowed using several literary techniques, such as preternatural plot elements and imagery. To start, preternatural plot elements are implied to foreshadow Farquhar’s death when he hears the distant sound of something striking a metallic object while he is awaiting his execution.

    Read More

  • An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing Analysis

    813 Words  | 4 Pages

    In literary terms foreshadowing is a method by which the author uses specific verbiage in a story to tell, or foreshadow, what is going to happen. The reader may feel as if they know what is going to happen before they read it, they could feel like a clairvoyant or that they are having a déjà vu experience. Ambrose Bierce’s story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has instances of foreshadowing that allude to the death of Peyton Farquhar before the story reaches the climactic point of telling of his fate. The first instance of foreshadowing is when Peyton Farquhar thinks that he can escape the hangman’s noose and swim home.

    Read More

  • Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

    1452 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rogelio Ochoa Freed Period 2 Feb 8, 2023 Perception of Owl Creek Bridge One may see something as they want it to be instead of how it really is. The story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce takes place in Alabama. Peyton Farquhar the protagonist of Beirce’s story is a man who is to be hanged and takes place on Owl Creek Bridge. Farquhar was told that anyone who tried interfering with the railroad construction that was happening on the bridge would be hanged.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices Create Suspense In Literature

    437 Words  | 2 Pages

    When you watch a tv show and do you find it annoying when they go to commercial break right before something important is about to happen? That is an example of suspense. You usually sit through the commercials to see what happens right? It keeps you hooked. The short story that I will be referring to and drawing examples of suspense from is Pickman’s Model by H.P. Lovecraft.

    Read More

  • An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Analysis

    971 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Owl Creek Bridge Symbolism

    473 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Influence On Civil War

    1206 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ambrose Bierce explains the water below Farquhar’s feet with such extreme detail that one can imagine the “'humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, [and] the strokes of the water-spiders' legs” (Bierce) reading the story. Using this technique helps the reader further focus and comprehend the message of the short story, the cruel Civil War is romanticized. In addition to the imagery, Ambrose Bierce’s well known short story also includes a significant theme of the contrast of a soldier’s glory with the reality of war. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Farquhar enters a dream-like delusion of escaping the bullets and his unavoidable hanging, only to be suddenly awakened by the reality of the cruel situation- he was going to be hanged. Bierce creates Peyton Farquhar as a character whose romantic ideals blind him from the harsh truth of war, and therefore contributes to the overall theme contrasting the idealistic mindset of soldiers and the gruesome reality of

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Suspense Analysis

    555 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author applies cliffhangers and imagery to create suspense. Lee employs cliffhangers throughout her story to conjure suspense. For example Lee shows Scout’s uneasiness after the fire incident at the Radley’s house thus creating suspense for the reader, “Through all the head shaking… Someone inside was laughing” (54). The laughing coming from

    Read More

  • How Does Bierce Use Irony In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    Another key factor for creating suspense in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is the very important literary technique that goes by the name of symbolism. One way Bierce uses symbolism is by giving both Peyton and the sentinel that shot at

    Read More

More about How Does Bierce Create Suspense In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Open Document