Times Final Moments What do you think that you would think about in your final moments of life? Well, Ambrose Bierce portrays what a man's final thoughts are when he realises he hardly has any time left in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. The story starts by showing us an innocent looking man who looks like he has done no wrong, getting ready to be hanged, keeping him unnamed, but then gives us a backstory of who he is and what he had done. Now knowing him as Peyton Farquhar, we delve into the thoughts he has in his final seconds; finally bringing it back to his hanging body on the bridge. Bierce’s use of plot structure, sounds, and imagery choreograph an odd tempo for the story. The structure of the story gives the reader a feeling of false accusation. This is portrayed by putting the structure of the story out of chronological order. The story starts us out in the middle of events, not revealing the man’s name and stating “The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many types of persons, and gentlemen are excluded” (Bierce 482). In the next part of the story gives a backstory, stating that he was attempting to burn Owl Creek Bridge, but was caught working alone. The final part of the story lets us inquire his final thoughts as he is actually hanging. …show more content…
Sounds tell us that time is not perceived normally in Farquhar’s brain.
For example, when he hears the watch ticking, it begins ticking slow, then sped up; which could’ve symbolized that he didn’t actually hear the watch, but was actually his pulse. Another use of sound is the “music” he heard from the insects, “The humming of the gnats that danced eddies above the stream, the beating of the dragonflies’ wings, the strokes of the water spiders’ legs, like oars which had lifted their boat- all these made audible music” (Bierce 486). That quote slowing down the story to mere milliseconds, slowing it to show us some of the imagery used in the
story. Imagery is used in various ways throughout the story. As mentioned before the imagery of him arising from the water and being able to hear the separate sounds of each wave that strikes his face, or being able to see the veining of each leaf, and all of the insects shows that time had slowed down for him to see those aspects in the small amount of time given. Another use of imagery was the description of the stream. “... then let his gaze 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 appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!” (Bierce 482). Some of the imagery was key to being able to tie together the fact that there was an rubato feeling of time. These ideas of things that slow or speed time are very crucial. They all are helping towards making it uncertain of how fast things are actually happening. The effect that the unsteady pace could give is suspense. Slowing the story to that degree, and giving all of his thoughts of his get-away in what would be mere seconds, then cutting from his thoughts to him hanging there show suspense and give an eerie feeling. So, what would your thoughts be in your final moments?
The Federal soldiers execute orders in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, which Ambrose Bierce (Ambrose 551) characterizes Peyton Farquhar’s impending demise as he encounter delusions, exemplifies profound keen senses, and experiences a perplexing fight-or-flight mental cognizance in an escape toward a perceived freedom, and nonetheless, remains a “standing civilian and a student in a hanging” (554).
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.
Ambrose Bierce chose to write this story in third person limited omniscient point of view to help the reader understand the story from the main character’s mind, Peyton Farquar. During the story you only see what happens through Peyton’s eyes. Therefore, you do not realize that most of the narrative reflects Peyton’s imagination. Choosing this type of view also lets the author focus more on the emotions and thoughts of the main character. The author does not let the reader see into the eyes of the men hanging him, but after reading the story one will understand that their point of view was not needed and would have actually taken away from the story if done so. His creative way of inventing this story would not have affected me and many other readers if written any other way.
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 Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce tells the story of a man being executed. As the man dies he imagines his escape. Facing death, the man wants nothing more ten to go home to his family. During his journey home, the man comes to appreciate life. Perhaps he sees how he should have lived, only as a dying man could. When faced with death he truly begins to realize what he has lost. This story might show us how death can enlighten us about life.
The analysis of this story will go through the event of Farquhar’s hanging and how his imagination is his only way to escape death. It’s Peyton Farquhar’s desire to participate in the war since prior circumstances didn’t allow him to participate in the civil war. All he wanted to do was serve his side, like any brave and noble man was hoping to do during this time. The union spy planted a seed of hearsay into Farquhar’s mind and Farquhar’s desires allowed this seed to sprout into what he saw as a possibility for acknowledgement and commendation. One can tell that Farquhar was consumed by the thought of being a war hero. His willingness to serve the confederacy is what dooms his life after he is caught trying to burn the bridge and stop the unions progression into the south.
According to Baybrook, “Peyton Farquhar believes -- as do the readers -- that he has escaped execution and, under heavy gunfire, has made his way back home” (Baybrook). One of Bierce’s main means to achieve this goal of forcing the reader to buy into his delusion is ‘time’. Because ‘time’ is utilized to calibrate human experiences, it becomes obscure, altered and split in times of extreme emotional disturbance. The time that is required for hanging Farquar seems to be indefinite, however, Bierce goes the extra mile and indicates that there is a certain ‘treshold of death’ that lingers beyond recognition. When it is exceeded, it results in a distorted and blurred pe...
A man’s execution is moments away from happening yet these men guarding the gravesite seem to care not for anything outside of their line of sight, regardless of its consequence. Bierce’s choice of impersonal diction in this passage draws the attention to the soldiers’ lack of concern for this man’s fate, demonstrating a perfect example of good soldiering. These men who “merely blockaded” entrance to the execution are not openly paying any mind to the hanging about to begin, which is referred to as something “occurring at the centre of the bridge,” because it was not their “duty” to think of what happened outside of their assigned task. Despite being within walking distance of this condemned man, no one is overtly uneasy about the presence of Death waiting to claim its prize. To these soldiers, to this war, the gentleman’s death will be but an occurrence, no more exciting than an
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)
The theme in “An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge” is brought together by three necessary literary elements. The author incorporates symbolism into the story to help support the theme that nobody can escapes death and how thoughts in the mind are so substantial in the consciousness that it can take over the reality. The author uses symbolism to support the theme that nobody can escape death Bierce showed the piece of driftwood slowly being carried away. That piece of driftwood brought hope to Peyton Farquhar, because of this his mind started to wonder out of reality. He started to go into a fantasy world where he could escape and become that driftwood in the currents of the rivers. By giving Fargher this hope the author was able to allow him to escape in only his mind. Showing that there was no reality for the execution to go undone. The author lead us into such a unbelievable r...
He feels guilt during and after the prisoner is killed, but he gets confused when the other guards and prisoners act like it was just another day in the prison. The other guards try to tell the main character that you get used to it after a while and invite him to get a drink with them after work to help him cope with how he is feeling. The other guards did this to let him know that he is not the only one who feels this way and that he will get used to the feeling after a while. The author did not intend to make this a political piece because he did not talk about what the prisoner did to get executed, he just stated that it was wrong to cut someone 's life short. The guard did not seem to start feeling bad for taking the prisoner 's life until the prisoner’s face was covered and he started shouting for his God. The prisoner was calm about getting hung until they put the cloth over his head then he started shouting for his God. This story was about how a guard started to feel bad for taking people’s lives even if they did something wrong. It seems that this is his first time helping execute a prisoner because the other guards tell him he needs to get a drink after the execution is over with. The other guards invite him to get a drink to let him know that he is not the only one who feels that way and that he can cope by drinking because he could get in trouble for saying how he feels because of the time this was set
In The Hangman, the narrator and the rest of the city “ceased, and asked no more as the hangman tallied his bloody score”(Ogden 3). No one wants to watch another person get hurt or suffer. The narrator is in a state of self preservation because every time they asked if he was done the Hangman took another man’s life. By the end of the story, the narrator is all alone with the Hangman. The narrator is puzzled as the Hangman explains that “the scaffold was raised for none but you”(Ogden 4). Because the narrator never spoke up, he was the last to die and there was no one there to stand up for him. Many people fear dying alone or before they can do something significant. In this story, the narrator dies alone and knowing that he could have stopped the murders from
Observations such as these are not encountered frequently until confronted with death, and the conveyance of these thoughts is insightful and meaningful to the reader. The only depreciating factor in the story is the length.
To begin with, the author creates a violent imagery with describing what inmates would do to confessed communists on hopes to get a shorter sentence by “helping the nation”, “William Remington, was murdered by an inmate hoping to shorten his sentence by having killed a communist”(Miller 11). This murder was no ordinary murder, it was not an act of deliberate evil but rather of fear and paranoia that the nation was going through in the 1900’s. With the use of violent imagery, Miller tried to explicitly reveal the on-going
“Isn’t it enough to kill a man without building a life on it?” He was distraught at the idea that he had killed a man even if it would’ve saved the lives of many later. Though, this form of justice may have been immoral, the fact that it came from a moral man, gave the town (and eventually the state) someone to look up to, and when told the truth, the editor of the newspaper decided the idea was more important than the truth justifies the actions taken by Stoddard and