Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

The short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, is set back during 1860s during the American Civil War. In the first chapter of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge paragraph 1 it is describing a man and where he is and what is happening. In the story, it describes how the man is. The story says “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrist bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees.” The man is going to be hung and the story is describing how the man is. The man was young and he had a wife and children. The man kept thinking

of his wife and his children before they hung him. In the story,it says “The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp” (first chapter second paragraph). The main character was being executed and the story describes the situation. The story says “...his executioners--two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff”(first chapter first paragraph). With the two private soldiers there was an officer, he was the captain. In the story,it describes what the soldiers and officer were doing. The story says “ A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as “support,” that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest--a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body” (first chapter first paragraph). The two soldiers were standing at the ends of the bridge. The man thinks the two soldiers did not know what was going on in the middle of the bridge. After everything was prepared the two soldiers stepped away and pulled the planks away, which they were standing on. Then the soldiers salute the captain and went behind the officer. The man started to think of his wife and children, but he could not focus. He kept hearing the ticking of his watch as he heard the seconds of his life tick away. The man started thinking if he could free his hands and escape, he could save himself and get back to his wife and children, who were far away for where this was happening, then the captain signaled for the sergeant to move and he moved. The man was dead.
In the second chapter it talks about Peyton Farquhar, who is the main character, and the one night when a Federal scout came to his house.

In the story it says “One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front. “The Yanks are repairing the railroads,” said the man, “and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridge, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order”’ (chapter 2 paragraph 2). Farquhar then asked the soldier how far Owl Creek bridge was and the soldier said 30 miles. Farquhar then kept asking question and then his wife came. The soldier drank the water and then left and that was when they realized he was a Federal

scout.
In the third chapter it brings up the man again.

The man is Peyton Farquhar and he is not dead. When Farquhar fell he became unconscious but then a while later he woke up and felt a pain shooting from his neck down. In the story it says “Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck was already suffocating him and kept the water from his lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river!--the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface--knew it with reluctance, for he was now very comfortable. “To be hanged and drowned,” he thought? “That is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair”’ (chapter 3 paragraph

1).