Literary Devices In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

The way an author writes a work can mean the difference between interest or the lack of interest. When first reading “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” a reader may find the ending quite a shock. However, if another author would write the same plot, the shock may not exist, but, because of the many techniques displayed by Ambrose Bierce throughout his work, readers remain interested and shocked upon first reading the last line. Techniques Bierce display in his work, such as use of point of view, literary devices, and plot developments, prove useful throughout “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by peaking the reader’s interest and keeping him or her trying to guess what exactly happened. Bierce employs two forms of point of view throughout his work, third-person omniscient and third-person limited. Throughout “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” he switched back and forth between the two. Third-person omniscient occurs when the

Falling action, one of the five plot elements (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution), comes just before the end of the story. The order of events that the story lays itself out does not match up with the order at which they actually happened. Bierce did this for a good reason. He laid out each event not chronologically, but in the order that creates the most suspense. In the exposition we know soldiers busy readying themselves for a hanging. The reader will not know why the man received this sentence of hanging or who this man identifies as until the rising action begins. When the reader reaches the climax, the point at which Peyton hung and the rope snaps, the reader feels confident they know the person and feels properly introduced into Peyton’s mind. The falling action begins as Peyton works to escape and make it back home to his wife and children. However, not until the conclusion, does the reader learns Peyton has actually