Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce depicts a potential hanging of a Southern slave-owner by Union Soldiers. The planter, Peyton Farquhar, is a southern sympathizer and attempted to sabotage union troops from rebuilding a railroad. Farquhar was given information about the railroad from a union spy posing as a southern scout in order to attract those who would try to support the southern cause. Once he is captured and hanged, the noose breaks and he plunges down into the river below. He manages to escape from the troops even though they are firing at him and return to his family. However, it is relieved that in actuality, the noose did not break and he was hanging the entire time he thought he had escaped.
Bierce writes a very realistic story in the case that is could have actually occurred. During the civil war, Union troops were constantly attempting to advance into the south. Railroads were

seen as the fastest way to transport supplies for both sides. As Confederate troops were forced to retreat, they destroyed railroads, which forced union troops to have to rebuild in order for use. Sabotaging the railroads would slow the union advance and could even help confederate troops regain the edge. Farquhar’s hanging was just one of many possible examples of a failed attempt of a sabotage.
During his hanging, Farquhar imagines he has escaped and is eventually reunited with his family. As there is a belief that as one is dying, their “life flashes before they eyes” and they remember all the good things about their life in order to make dying more peaceful. Consequently, Farquhar believes that he actually escaped from the hanging and the soldiers and is able to safety be reunited with his family. His story is truly believable because no one truly knows what happens when death arrives so what Farquhar experienced, would have been a result of his brain lessening the pain of his death.
Willa Sibert Cather tells the story of a suicidal teenager In Paul’s Case. The story is told in third person and revolves around the thoughts and decisions of Paul. He is a very depressed and illustrates various signs of his depression. Paul detach himself from his surrounding world and those who are part of it, including family, classmates, and teachers. When teachers attempt to connect and reason with him, he immediately shuts them out of his life which they view as a sign of blatant disrespect. Paul continues to shut out everyone relevant in his life and only focuses on the one thing that gives him some type of joy, theater. With theater and art, he imagines it as a world of endless possibilities. Working as an usher in Carnegie Hall, he is allowed to view various acts, however, his downfall is that he puts the acts on a postnasal, praising the art world as a fantasy where everyone is perfect instead of its actuality which is people at hard work performing.
The course of the story depicts Paul’s slow descent into oblivion.

Paul’s depression and suicidal thoughts continue to course his mind. He imagines scenarios where his father mistakes him for an intruder and shoots him dead, and another where his father did not kill him, but later wishes that he had. Paul continues on his path and eventually steals money to fuel a lavish adventure in New York City. Paul hates being part of the middle class and would rather be wealthy. He believes that if he were to have money, it would make his life easier and he would actually have some importance. He places too much blame on uncontrollable circumstances and not enough on himself and how he could change his life. He is so self-absorbed that he never considers the consequences of his actions on others, such as his father who paid back the money he stole and goes to New York to search for his son. Even when he dies to ultimately end his life, he does not consider how his family will mourn, but instead of all the places he will never have a chance to

discover.
Cather use Paul to showcase the possible thought process of someone who is clinically depressed. Their depression forces them to focus on the “I” and not others. The depression has clouded their mind so much that they feel useless in their ability to alleviate their circumstance. This feeling is something that many people with depression deal with, the feeling that they are stuck in their current situation. In the case of Paul and others with serious depression, they feel truly powerless and believe that few can help them or even understand what they are going though. A reader with experience with depression can easily understand what Paul is and why he makes certain decisions. Someone with little experience with depression might not understand why Paul shuts out those trying to help him and eventually chooses suicide as the best option.