“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a short story written by American author, Ambrose Bierce that was published in 1890. This American Civil War story is about Peyton Farquhar, who is is summoned to be hanged by the Union army after trying to burn down Owl Creek Bridge. This short story is divided into three sections, with each one using its own distinctive narrative technique. Ambrose Bierce uses several language strategies as distractions to take the reader by surprise at the end of the story. By shifting the narrative point of view for each section, Bierce manipulates reader (perception) to reflect what the main character is feeling, allowing us to take part in his hallucinations” and remain surprised at the end of the story. In “An Occurrence …show more content…
at Owl Creek Bridge”, Bierce skillfully combines third person narrative, a rapidly paced plot, and realistic details to blend fantasy and reality, ultimately leading the reader to believe Farquhar escapes. Therefore, the reader is unable to interpret Farquhar's true fate until the very end of the story.Bierce skillfully blends the third person point of view that conceals Farquhar's death until the very end, a rapidly paced plot of narrow escapes from death that distract the reader, concrete details that make the final escape seem real, and the technique of blending fantasy and reality. In the first part of the story, all but the last three paragraphs are written in objective third-person, which allows the narrator to describe the setting of the exposition.However, this point of view prevents the reader from seeing the story through a character’s eyes/perspective and disclose his/her emotions. For example, the story opens with, “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in Northern Alabama, looking down into the swift waters twenty feet below.” In the beginning of the story, Farquhar was introduced standing on a plank at the end of the bridge with a noose around his neck. Farquhar was about to face his death right on Owl Creek Bridge. In the last three paragraphs of Part I, the narration shifts to an omniscient third-person point of view where Bierce takes the reader inside Farquhar's mind to reveal what he is thinking as he is waiting to be hung. This demonstrates how emotional upheaval alters not only the way the mind interprets reality, but also the way it perceives the passage of time. First, Farquhar mistakes the ticking of his watch for the tolling of a bell or the ring of an anvil struck by a hammer. Then, after Farquhar drops from the bridge at the moment of execution, he perceives a single second as lasting hours. Immediately after he is hung, the story flashes back so that the reader can understand the background of the story.
During the flashback,
the story switched from Farquhar as the focalizer to a third person narrator as the
focalizer as well. The third person narrator then explains how Farquhar ended up in
his predicament on the bridge. A spy from the North tricked Farquhar into
attempting to burn Owl Creek Bridge, which would have prevented the Union from
crossing it. Unfortunately, Farquhar agreed to the task, and the Northern soldiers
took Farquhar into captivity to be hanged. At the end of part 1 directly before Farquhar falls to his death, the narrator says, “As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.” This quote marks an important turning point in the
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story. The story then returns to the moment where Farquhar was being hanged. Farquhar contradictorily describes the water below him as both “swift” and “sluggish”. When Farquhar was just about to be hanged, he lost consciousness. Suddenly, a change of luck allows Farquhar to escape and make a wild run to return to his wife back at his home again. However, the ending of the story shows that it was indeed a successful hanging. Throughout the escape, Bierce puts an excruciating focus on detail to distract the reader. This, in addition to change changes in focalizer, made it easy for the reader to forget the unrealistic ways in which the fugitive was able to escape from his imminent death. When Farquhar was on the bridge, he heard a very loud ticking noise. He described it as a “distinct, metallic percussion”. He later understood the noise was the hands of his watch ticking. The volume of the sound varied in Farquhar’s mind. This unrealistic imagery distracts the reader. The reader doesn’t even stop to think about how fictional it is for the watch’s ticking volume to be so loud and variable. However, Bierce successfully distracts the reader with the simple tick of a watch. The “change of luck” is also completely unrealistic. The author shares that the rope Farquhar was being hanged from spontaneously broke. Then, Farquhar suddenly was able to carefully use his hands to untie them and untie the noose around his neck as well. Consumed by the story, the read doesn’t pay attention to how highly unlikely and unrealistic these occurrences are. While Farquhar is in the river, Farquhar is able to see “the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf” as well as “the beating of the dragon flies’ wings, the strokes of the water spider’s legs.” Then, the Union soldier began shooting in his direction.
Farquhar can vividly see and describe the eyes of the men
shooting at him. Farquhar is also able to avoid every bullet shot at him thanks to the
help of the current taking him away. Farquhar’s outrageously strong senses are
another distraction to the reader. It is unreasonable to believe that Farquhar could
avoid a shower of bullets as he was swimming in a river as well as have an impressive
vision to be able to see the eyes of his shooters.
Then, Farquhar is able to escape from the Union soldiers. He leaves the river
and begins on a thirty-mile journey back to his family. He went on through the day
and night in the direction of his home. He then fell asleep, then woke up to his house
just as normal as ever. His wife “stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy”.
However, as he went to hug her, Peyton felt a pain in his neck. The story was then
harshly concluded with “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken
neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of Owl Creek bridge.” Through shifts in the focalizer and impressive imagery, Bierce is able to shock and distract the reader. He is able to jumble the reader enough for the reader to not realize the story is actually impractical until the end when the reader understood what has actually happened. The abrupt conclusion baffles the reader, as the reader tried to sympathize with Farquhar. The reader is then able to reflect on what he or she has read and understand how Bierce easily tricked them. “This surprise ending is effective in shocking the reader because it is unexpected based on the narrative.”
Ambrose Bierce wrote "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" during the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century. During this time period the two writing styles of romanticism, and realism were coming together. This melding of styles was a result of the romantic period of writing and art coming to an end, just at realism was beginning to gain popularity. "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a perfect example of this transition of styles as it combines elements of both romanticism and realism to create a story that can be far-fetched while still believable at times.
kicked off the car, he was left a far distance from everything. He reached a
"Short Stories :An occurence at owl creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce." 2009. Web. 2 Dec 2009. .
Bierce broke this story down into three parts. The first part of the narrative creates an atmosphere with the setting at Owl Creek Bridge. Great detail is told here as to who is present at the scene, what is happening, what the scene looks like, etc. But the reader only receives ideas and thoughts from one person, Peyton Farquar. The first part as like the other two parts of this story is written very systematically and clear. Even with such a structured set up, the author still manages to put great anticipation and fearsome emotion into the near end of the first part of this story. At this point the author makes the reader think Peyton is devising a way to set his hands free from the rope thereby beginning his journey to escape home.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery, the people of a small American town struggle to hold onto a gruesome tradition, one which has greatly affected the moral values of the society. In writing this story, Jackson is commenting on tradition; how, when taken to extremes, it can hinder society. THis horrible tradition of stoning people to death is a normal event from the perspective of the townspeople; one which is practised by the whole town. Early on in the story, the narrator states that the lottery “was conducted - as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program - by Mr. Summer…” (Jackson 1). As evidenced by this quote, the lottery was just another event comparable to other events that society deems normal. In other words:
The short story starts by creating curiosity with the revelation that a man will be hung in the owl creek bridge. At that moment the reader does not know the reasons for which the man will be sentenced. In the second section, the name of the man who will be hanged is mentioned, the motives for his crime and how he was captured. The final section illustrates the struggle Peyton Farquhar was facing and the events that went through your mind at that moment. He imagined/dream that he escape and peaceful return to their home. But the reality is another and his life ends in darkness and silence. (Bierce 201-209)
My first example is Cpl. Barger who is constantly using the least benifical primitive defense mechanism
Ignoring the pain of his neck and the “circle of black” on his neck, Farquhar runs to his beloved wife. Just a few more steps and he would be in the arms of his love. In a flash Farquhar is dead, by the “circle of black”, underneath the Owl Creek Bridge. Peyton Farquhar, the main character of the historical short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” written by Ambrose Bierce, is being hanged by the union army after being set up by the federal soldier. The reader is misled by Bierce to think that Farquhar escapes and survives. In reality Farquhar is being hanged and was imagining himself surviving. The author uses many subtle hints during Farquhar’s “escape” to show that. Using literary techniques: imagery, preternatural plot elements, and allusions, Bierce foreshadows the true fate of Peyton Farquhar.
... breaks, leading him to fall into the water beneath the bridge that was to be the sight of his death. The story follows Farquhar as he escapes the barrage of bullets flying at him, even making it far enough to nearly embrace his wife. It is then, unexpectedly, that Bierce introduces the truth to the audience; it was all in Peyton’s head. “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.” The innovative narration by Bierce, who wrote hundreds of works during his life, marks this tale as a true classic.
The plot structure allows the mind to wonder and ask itself questions as to why Farquhar is being prepared to hang, or how it was so easy for him to escape down the river. The central theme adds extra interest into the setting, plot structure, and point of view. The fictional elements used in the story help the readers to better understand the events and the order of which they occur. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” used the setting, point of view, and plot structure to setup the unique theme that the story holds of its free flowing nature of
After his foot healed he had the option of going to any fort. He chose to go west, to the plains. He left with one of the peasants from the fort he was in, to a post out in the plains. When he arrived there was no one there. He decided to stay and sent the peasant back.
Ambrose Bierce, the author of a short story titled, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". The southern plantation owner Peyton Farquhar, searches for hope deep within the realization of his soon to be last breath. Observing his surroundings, standing upon on that Northern Alabama bridge he was there to destroy. Only moments before was he then was captured for trespassing. He is now caught standing upon a plank held down by the soldiers weight. Waiting for the exact moment to step off the board, he closed his eyes envisioning his wife and children that one last time. Peyton then fell through the bridge, only to awaken at the bottom of the stream. I believe that hope gave him the strength to awake after the fall. No longer unconscious from the rope around his neck, the beaming light far in a distance caught his eye.
wife nor does he fight back, just as he did not fight in the war. Or, was this his war he was battling? When
The few seconds’ right before Farquhar feels the tugging at his throat is when he begins to fantasize. Farquhar begins by envisioning himself in a timeless realm. After Farquhar possesses control of time, Farquhar is able to fabricate the ending of his hanging in any way he wants. As quoted, “As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. From this state he was awakened. (Bierce 90)”. By manipulating time, Farquhar has used the setting of Owl Creek Bridge to give himself life instead of death. Farquhar’s resistance to time and reality with illusion shows how he constantly struggles for what he wants to exist. However, Farquhar cannot recognize that illusions will disappear, reality will decide, and that reality is
Life can be stressful, difficult, and worrisome. It is nearly impossible to avoid the struggles of the real world. However, the mind does give people a tool to temporarily elude them -- the imagination. If used properly, the imagination can allow a person to temporarily escape the harsh reality of life. Ambrose Bierce, a Civil War veteran, displays this in the short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Bierce uses the “Owl Creek Bridge” and the “Owl Creek” to symbolize the perception of the imagination. He displays the gap between reality and imagination by changing his style of writing throughout the story. He transitions from a basic style of writing, that represents the constraints of real life, to an intricate one, that represents the freedom of imagination.Within this imagination, Bierce plays with irony to show how it can be a defense mechanism against death itself.