Death is inevitable, or so many think. Fahrquhar Peyton, the protagonist of ¨An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, finds himself experiencing many obstacles. These obstacles, however, are mere hallucinations that he utilizesuses to escape the reality of his death. The author, Ambrose Bierce, incorporates the literary element of foreshadowing to illustrate that Peyton’s death was predetermined. Bierce’s style of foreshadowing is extrapolated from the internal perspective of Peyton and the external reality of his hallucinations. Bierce uses subtle but prevalent occurrences occurences of foreshadowing to display that Peyton was dead the whole time. Bierce uses descriptions from Peyton’s perspective in lieu of what is actually happening. This alternate …show more content…
perspective however, would not be existential without the ticking of the watch triggering this fallacy. This trigger initiates when the strikes occur in the beginning of the story. Bierce writes, “Striking through the thought of his dear ones was sound which he could he could neither hear nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of the blacksmith’s hammer (...) It's recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell,” (Bierce 2). As can be seen, iImmediately the author incorporates foreshadowing. The first metallic tick sounded as though it was a death knell, hence extrapolating the idea that Peyton is dead. More indirectly however, Bierce writes, “He awaited each new stroke with impatience (...) The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. (...) What he heard was the ticking of his watch” (Bierce 3). Not only does Bierce use foreshadowing but also symbolism in this scenario. In retrospect, clocks and watches are symbols of time or time-travel. The ticks of the watch go slower which symbolizes that in Peyton’s perspective that time is also slowing down. Bierce illustrates this by using the word ‘impatient’. This foreshadows that Peyton’s daydream is a mere thought and though it is expressed extensively it is honestly a mere few seconds. Therefore, the ticking of the watch set the stage for all the other mental foreshadowing to come. Speaking of mental foreshadowing, Bierce causes Peyton to experience small epiphanies that foreshadow his death. For example, in his hallucination when he recouped his conscience, he did things that no ordinary human would do. Bierce writes, “He was now in full possession of his physical senses. (...) He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf,” (Bierce) At this point in the story, his ulterior motive was to go back home. Instead, he notices the veins on leaves which is quite peculiar because if one has a motive they will abide in actions to strive to achieve said motive. However, he does not strive. This illustrates that he is not actually escaping which signals that he is not alive, hence dead. In addition, unlike a human, his memory does not serve him well. Bierce writes, “Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round - spinning like a top. The water, the banks, the forests, the now distant bridge, fort and men, all were commingled and blurred,” This relates to how he is dead because he does not remember the things that happened. Henceforth, Peyton undergoes some inhumane experiences which concludes that he is dead. Towards the end of the story, the protagonist finds himself on a restless road that appears to be untouched.
However, the existentiality of this road contributes to foreshadowing that Peyton is dead. For example, Bierce writes, ¨At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untraveled,¨ (Bierce 4). Although at first glance the foreshadowing is not striking, it becomes more prevalent that the author illustrated the death because the untouched road in such a war-like area is perplexing. This perplexing fact exposes that Peyton is dead because the road seems ‘untouched’ because he is alone and dead. Moreover, aside from the author hinting the foreshadowing, the author blatantly states that the occurences of events are mere visions. The author writes, ““Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene- perhaps he has merely recovered from delirium,” (Bierce 4). Bierce’s wording precipitates that Peyton was in a hallucination the whole time because he writes ‘fallen asleep’ in advance of ‘now he sees another scene’ this indicates that the upcoming scenes are in fact
unrealistic. Bierce cleverly uses her writing to augur that the protagonist is dead the entire time. Through collective scenarios, whether being internal or external, Bierce sheds a new light on how fascinations can portray the artificial reality of the present. With this in mind, she further implements how one’s surrounding environment alters the visions of people.
Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, which is a short story released in 1890, gained much popularity over the years. It is most famous for it’s manipulation of time. Though the events in the book only take seconds, the story is over eight pages long. Time seems to slow for the man in the noose and at the same time speed up for the reader. In this way, Bierce presents his manipulation of time in the story.
The bridge he is being executed on has opportunities for escape, with a river below, and a dense forest on his right. Moments before his execution, Payton gazes at the water. All of his efforts in supporting the Confederacy in defeating the Union via sabotage has led to his passing. In the moments of his hanging, he passes out and falls into the creek below, freeing himself from the ropes, and dodging bullets while going down the river. As he escaped he runs into the forest and travels the day to see his family; and in the moment he grasps his wife, he dies.
While the story is based on a realistic plot, and even set up as a piece of historical fiction, it soon takes a drastic turn towards romanticism. When Peyton is hung off the bridge just as he is dropping to his death, the rope breaks letting him drop into the water and begin to escape by swimming for his life. This action in itself illustrates classic romanticism, as it is highly unrealistic that Peyton would have survived the impact of the rope to his neck as he dropped off the bridge. This goes on further as he survives his plunge into the water, releases himself of the ropes which bound him, and then manages to swim away to safety while being shot at by a troop of soldiers.
Out of all the stories I have read so far in class, I found this story the most interesting and realistic piece. It never occurred to me that thoughts such as those mentioned in the story could actually be going through a dieing man’s mind. In fact, I show even more ignorance in that I have never thought about what is it truly like to experience a process of expected death. This kind of tragedy once happened on a day-to-day basis. Imagine all the other elaborate emotions going through the minds of others dieing. Bierce did a great job in putting true emotion into this story. I along with most of my class members agreed that we had no idea Peyton’s escape home did not occur at all until the final words of this story. For an author to create something so realistically disguised until the bitter end is truly an amazing accomplishment.
In writing this story, Bierce is commenting on war itself and the contrast between this romanticized tale of heroism and the gruesome reality the hundreds of thousands of men had to face, and still have to face to this very day. The true horrors of war are never normally publicized, and this is why the populace is willing to go and fight. In the case of Peyton Farquhar, this ignorance lead to his blind patriotism, which in turn lead to his death. As the narrator relates to the reader: “Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army [...] and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.” (Bierce 2). The aforementioned quote is most definitely an affirmation of the grandeur of the military, and this is the perspective that Peyton Farquhar and many men shared. It is this illusion of grandeur that corrupts many men (and women) to head out and die in horrible
In Ambrose Bierces " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" two private soldiers of the Federal army were appointed by a sergeant to lynch Peyton Farquhar from a elderly suspended bridge because of his attempt to aid the Confederate forces. He was to be executed for aiding the confederate forces. He knew his death was at his fingertips and couldn’t help ponder its arrival. He looks at the river below observing the depth of the river. Early on in the story Ambrose portrays Peyton, from his perspective, seeing a shallow river. The fact that the river is shallow and will defiantly kill Peyton distracts the reader from the truth behind the mans observation. Peytonseeing the river shallow is foreshadowing the actual depth of the river. In fact the river is so deep that when the rope snaps it seems he falls endlessly in the water. The reader is eagerly awaiting the soon death of Peyton, then suddenly surprised while the river cushions his fall. Several other soldiers were relentlessly targeting the man at ...
We realize that Peyton never really escaped, he was seeing his life flash before his eyes and the reader was right there with him. As stated by Peter Stoicheff in ‘Something Uncanny’ : The Dream Structure in Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” “somehow the reader is made to participate in the split between imagination and reason, to feel that the escape is real while he knows it is not”(349). The reader wants to believe he survived and doesn’t realize the reality actually happening due to the altering of perspectives on Bierce’s part. There is evidence that shows that Bierce wanted the reader to see the reality that comes with your mind playing
There has been much examination of the more popular terms used in American literature, such as romanticism and classicism, but little examination done on literary realism. Despite realism being mostly ignored in the late nineteenth century, it has now become commonplace in American literature. Although An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce does offer some examples of literary realism in its verisimilitude of detail and idealism, there were also many instances of fantastical imagery and an unrealistic sense of time, which is contradictory to literary realism.
“I didn’t see—anybody. There wasn’t nothing, but a bunch of steers—and the barbed wire fence.” (94) His desperation and loneliness overpowering all, Adams takes up his initial idea of running down the hitchhiker, but his momentary traveling companion does not see the victim, claiming he was never there. Now in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the hitchhiker doesn’t wait for Adams to make a stop before appearing; his form and face flit by every other mile. (96) Learning of his mother’s prostration and the death of Ronald Adams, the protagonist leaves the audience with his last thought: Somewhere among them, he is waiting for me. Somewhere I shall know who he is, and who . . . I . . . am . . .” (97) Alone, without the willpower to fight for survival, the main character fades into a mist of doubt and helplessness.
described in the story, Peyton was not able to join his beloved state to fight for the
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...
Throughout literary history, one of the most amazing mysteries that still lingers in great literary minds today is about Ambrose Gwinett Bierce. He disappeared in the early 1900s never to be found again. He is remarkably remembered by his literary works of sarcasm and illusion. Throught his lasting life he wrote many fascinating short stories that reflected his experiences during his time as a soldier in combat during the American Civil War. His two most famous works being “Killed at Resaca” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek”. Through the use of war-like scenarios, sarcasm and the use of personification, Ambrose Bierce implies them all in his two most famous short stories of his time. “ Killed At Resaca and “An Occurrence At Owl Creek”.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, written by Ambrose Bierce in 1890-1891, depicts an antiwar motif of the American Civil War. Bierce uses dramatic irony, descriptive imagery and the theme of time. The war was fought from 1861 to 1865 after seven Southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as the “Confederacy” or the “South.” The remaining states were known as the “Union” or the “North.” The war’s origin was the issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories of the United States. After four years of bloody combat, over 600,000 soldiers were dead and much of the South’s infrastructure had been destroyed. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and reconstruction process of national unity and guaranteed rights to freed slaves began.
Lucy Bednar explains in her criticism that Bierce uses three different voices throughout his story. In the first part of the story Bierce set up the scene. There is a man, Peyton, with a noose around his neck about to be hanged by the Northern soldiers during the civil war. Peyton is barely standing on a plank of the bridge and there are soldiers all over the place ready to
“Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side to beneath the timber of the Owl Creek Bridge” (Bierce 589). Surprisingly this is the end of the story. The author, Ambrose Bierce, creates suspense, mystery, and tension, by the order of event and the use of flashback throughout this short story. Bierce, allows the reader to believe Farquhar escaped his hanging.