Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Literary Analysis “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

Ambrose Bierce grew up in a small religious town in Ohio. While living in Ohio he found a new passion for serving others. Ambrose Bierce was one of the many men who fought in battle during the Civil War. After a long period of time in the war Bierce was injured, and had to resign from the military. After the war Bierce needed to express his experience somehow. Bierce decided to write numerous short stories that explained his life in battle. While reading these stories most readers can’t help but visualize themselves in the setting. In fact, that is exactly what Ambrose Bierce lived for.

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” begins with the main character Peyton Farquhar. Peyton Farquhar is a slave owner that has a dream of helping those in need. One night Farquhar is taken away from his family by soldiers and left

tied up on the bridge. Once he wakes up, he realizes that he is moments away from death. During this time Farquhar has dreams of escaping, which is conflict within himself. One wrong move from the sargent and the rope snapped. Due to the restriction the rope has on his neck, he begins to slowly sink to the bottom. Then all of a sudden, he regains consciousness and begins fighting against the bullets. After a vigorous fight Farquhar stumbles upon land. Pioneers begin shooting at him, and he runs quickly into the forest. That entire day Farquhar searches for safety, until the moment came where his life would come to an end in his wife's arms, or so he thought. How is man vs self portrayed in the story?
Farquhar experiences man vs self begins with the initial hanging. Man vs self is experienced when you have an inner conflict within yourself. For example, Farquhar fights with himself internally, on whether or not he should take the risk and escape, or die right there on the bridge. In paragraph 4, the author describe how Farquhar looks at the water below him. In the moment he wonders if he would be able to survive in the water. The author writes, “ He looked a moment at his “unsteadfast footing”, then let his eyes wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. A piece of driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appear to be move”(Paragraph 4). Farquhar was reassured by the pace of the water. He knew that because the stream was slow, he could fall and swim to safety. The only problem was how. Farquhar struggles with in internal thought, “ If I could free my hands, I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream”. (Paragraph 6).
Although in that moment Farquhar thought that this was all he had to face, he was wrong.

He now has to face man vs self once again. Throughout the story the author hints that while being hanged Farquhar dies, and the rest of the story is his dream of escaping. This dream is all a man vs self situation, because it is all happening in his head, but these dreams also contain hints of man vs nature as well. For example, the dream begins with his struggle in the water. The author states, “ Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round- spinning like a top” (Paragraph 26). The dream then suddenly turns into a fight with nature for his wife. Once on land Farquhar runs into the forest in order to find his house. “ The forest seemed interminable, nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman’s road. By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famished” (Paragraph 28). He felt like the only thing keeping him going was the thought of holding his family again. At the very end of the story, at the very last sentence the author confirm that Farquhar had died at Owl Creek

Bridge.
In conclusion, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, man vs self and man vs nature is portrayed with the hanging and the fight in the water in the forest. Each of descriptions in the story are figures of his imagination. These conflicts that Ambrose Bierce uses in this story helps visualize the problems the main character faces. Farquhar mainly struggles with man vs self. The first experience Farquhar faces is the initial hanging. The author then proceeds to explain the dream Farquhar experiences. During this dream Farquhar also faces man vs nature. He faces this conflict in the midst of trying to escape the bullet in the river. Farquhar also experiences man vs nature when he runs in the forest looking for his wife and children. At the very end of the story the author explain that Farquhar had in fact died at the hands of the noose.