How Does The Author Use Irony In An Incident At Owl Creek Bridge

In this adaptation of an excerpt from An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge, the author

satires the Farquhar’s inconsiderate actions by providing the reader with sufficient

information about the clues that foreshadows Farquhar’s ultimate downfall in the future. By

emphasizing the clear border between the confederate cause and the Yankee scout, author

critically stresses the conflict in the civil war era. This potentially maximized the impact on

the reader at the Volta in conclusion. To achieve this, author used various literary

techniques including irony, symbolism, and Volta.

The author has shown series of ironies, which eventually played a role as a medium

of foreshadowing Farquhar’s tragic ending. The author introduces a man whose “hands

This idea is further examined through the usage of symbolism by the author. The

author consequently explains an incident from one evening (“A grey-clad soldier rode up to

the gate and asked for a drink of water”). The water that the soldier requested is not merely

water that we know. For soldiers who lack the basic necessities due to war and unstable

environments, water represent life and essential element. Toward the request of water

from the soldier, the author explains that the Mrs. Farquhar reacted with overjoy (“Mrs.

Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hand”). The “white hand” of

Mrs. Farquhar does not necessarily indicate her race, but it’s the symbolism of the pure

heart and utter intentions. Through these symbolisms, author revealed clear polarized

political tendency for both Mr and Mrs Farquhar, which is highly important when

understanding the story.

These ideas from above were merely tools that author manipulated to amplify the

effect of the Volta. The author built up the story up to its climax point and incorporated

Volta, completely destructing reader’s assumptions regarding to the ending of the plot

The fact that he repassed the

plantation, refer that he is heading to the place where execution would take place because,

there is no any other reason for a Southern confederate cause to go “northward in the

direction from which he had come”. The author indirectly made sure that readers fully

understand Mr.Fraquhar’s plan. After making sure that everything is clear, author

completely breaks down every assumption from the reader through this 5 worded

phrase:”He was a Yankee scout”. The author has been building up ideas in an attempt to

overturn. The fact that the soldier that Mr.Fraquhar was discussing plan was Yankee scout

means that his oppositionists in ideology knows about his future actions. Thus, overlook of

the actions by oppositionists indicate that his ultimate fate is, as mentioned in the passage,

“summarily hanged”.

In conclusion, the author built up the whole plot of the story using various

techniques including irony and symbolism. Nonetheless, these were actually merely the

author’s manipulations to plant misconception of the plot. The author cleverly destructed

all the guesses, effectively criticizing Mr.Fraquhar’s unwise actions, which resulted him