The Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge By Ambrose Bierce

Back then, hanging was a popular form of execution.  Ambrose Bierce’s story “The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” is a tragic war story in which the main character, Farquhar is about to be hanged by American soldiers.  War and the unfairness is described  in Bierce’s story, reflecting his opinion of how he thinks war is unjust.  Ambrose Bierce uses imagery and characterization to convey that war is unpredictable, unjust, and brutal.
The imagery in this story displays the brutality of war, and how no one knows how any war will end.  The fact that Farquhar is being hanged, though he was not doing anything wrong, conveys the brutality of war.   Peyton; “ stood up on a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty

feet below.  The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord.  A rope closely encircled his neck”(Bierce 468).  Being hanged for a crime he was caught too early to commit, explains the cruel ways of  war.  The surroundings of the man, and the picture of someone being hanged, gives an example of how unjust and vicious the symptoms of war can be.  Bierce shows how Farquhar views war as unpredictable, and how ruthless it can be.  In addition, uncertainness is conveyed when the do when Farquhar is upon the bridge.  Silence of signals and communication of others can be doubtful, causing one to not know what is going to happen.  Farquhar faces an uncertain fate, decided by the silent soldiers.  On the bridge:  “ The company faced the bridge, staring stony motionless.  The sentinels facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge.  The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the works of his subordinates, but making no sign” (Bierce 468).  The silence of the soldiers shows no signs of what may happen next, if Peyton makes it out dead or alive.  This conveys the theme of unpredictability and violence because these war concepts had caused Farquhar to end up in this situation.
Throughout the story, Bierce uses Farquhar’s characteristics, to prove that he can bring brutality, unjust, and capriciousness  into the theme of war.

Farquhar is relentless at times, motivated, but overall an honest and kind person.  This proves that war is unpredictable because one would not expect the person described to be a prisoner of war.  Making Peyton kind allows Bierce to describe that war is unforgiving.  Farquhar’s personality does not fit the prisoner of war traits well, because: “Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family”(Bierce 468-470).   The attitude of Peyton’s character proves the whimsical ways of war, how it can be good to you one day, and get back at you the next.  Bierce proves that war is unjust because of the fact that Farquhar is a normal, luminous person, and one would never expect to have him be hanged.  Another way that Bierce shows war is unjust, vicious, and unpredictable is by making Farquhar one would possibly never expect one to be arrested, or killed.  For Farquhar: “No service too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian but the heart of a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to  at least a part of the franky villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war” (Bierce 470).  With the humbleness of Farquhar, and his gratitude towards the army and being a

soldier, his personality can make one think of how a man like him could ever get into being a prisoner of war.  Bierce’s view on war is significant in creating this story,  because it implies the notion of war not being fair at all.
The attitude Bierce holds in this short story shows how he reflects his character through Peyton.  The significance of the imagery, and the characteristics of Peyton himself prove that Bierce holds war to be something of unpredictability, something whimsical and vindictive.  Something of a pugnacious nature.