“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a short story by Ambrose Bierce, this story has the use of suspense in a way that the reader will least expect. Bierce uses his suspense in such a way to keep his audience guessing what will happen next, and keep them on their toes. In the story Bierce talks about a man standing on the bridge silently, and watching the men prepare to hang a man by the name of Payton Farquhar, as it says in the story, “ The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing” (Bierce 482). The captain standing silent gives a little suspense by stating that something serious, or bad is going to happen. The readers can imagine men standing with guns, and a captain watching with an awkward silent, indicating death. Bierce talks about how Farquhar falls into the water because the rope had broke, and he soon surfaced looking at a beautiful place then soldiers yell. Farquhar began swimming and the soldiers shoot at him with rifles and cannon balls, which builds up suspense. This builds up suspense because one moment …show more content…
its an amazing day, then the next he is being shot at, and the audience thinks that he will get striked with a bullet. Bierce states in the story “ He had come to the surface facing down the stream… world seemed to wheel slowly round”. “He heard a sharp report and something struck the water smartly within a few inches of his head”. (Pg. 486) Farquhar is soon running through a long tunnel of trees in straight lines to his house in hopes to meet with his wife once again.
The trees in perfect lines tend to represent dead bodies, bodies such as black bodies or slaves that had abused. Soon Farquhar finds his wife and runs for her as quick as he can. Bierce uses this to build suspense because just when the reader begins to think that Farquhar is free and will live on with his wife, reality kicks in and he wakes from his lucid dream as he is hung from the bridge. On page 488, Bierce says “ The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides… his neck eas in pain and lifting his hand on it he found it horribly swollen.” He also said, “ As he pushes open the gate and passes…. He sees a flutter of female garments: his wife”. “ As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck… then all is darkness and silence Peyton Farquhar was
dead”. Bierce uses his suspense in such a way to keep his audience guessing what will happen next, and keep them on their toes. He uses this in the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” which is the perfect story for his type of suspense which forms how Farquhar thinks and feels in his mind.
"Short Stories :An occurence at owl creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce." 2009. Web. 2 Dec 2009. .
Bierce broke this story down into three parts. The first part of the narrative creates an atmosphere with the setting at Owl Creek Bridge. Great detail is told here as to who is present at the scene, what is happening, what the scene looks like, etc. But the reader only receives ideas and thoughts from one person, Peyton Farquar. The first part as like the other two parts of this story is written very systematically and clear. Even with such a structured set up, the author still manages to put great anticipation and fearsome emotion into the near end of the first part of this story. At this point the author makes the reader think Peyton is devising a way to set his hands free from the rope thereby beginning his journey to escape home.
well stocked with game…...but it was the most jealously guarded” lines 9-13. The author tells the reader that there is a feud and that there could be implications because of this forest. The suspense of what is going to happen leaves you guessing.The background created by the plot ties into the advancement of suspense in the story. “The disposed party had never acquainted in the judgment of the courts”. This tells the reader there is still some unresolved tension between the two. Another question that leads the reader how will they act because of this prerequisite tension. The plot also created an uneasy feeling throughout the text. The height of the plot was when”both..were pinned beneath the fallen mass” line
At the start of the story Bierce uses a distant third person omniscient, allowing peers to know everybody’s action. He describes the setting, situation, where everyone is located on the bridge, who the commander is, and the conversation among the soldiers. Within the first few paragraphs the reader has basically came up with their idea of
Readers are confounded as the conflict actualizes with Peyton Farquhar finding himself on a bridge awaiting his execution. Although Farquhar is to be hung, he still manages to keep calm and focused on what is important, his family. However this is where the story makes its first turn as Farquhar’s thoughts are interrupted by the sound of his own watch. The description of the piercing sound is but a small glimpse of the “dream” that is to come. This is where time and perspective tend to get confused. Prevalently this idea is due to the temporary solution that comes as Peyton Farquhar “dreams” himself escaping such perilous doom and reaching his wife.
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...
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)
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a story of illusion, decision, and fate. It presents one with a very powerful scenario - one that questions the protagonist 's ultimate destiny, and the concept of good vs. evil. It defines the grey area of deeds by which most humans live, and uses powerful thematic concepts and devices to convey the author 's own value while leaving some space for the reader to make their own choice. Furthermore, this story discusses the life of a man who ended up on the wrong side of history, humanizing yet criminalizing him for his beliefs. This can all be attributed to a wide array of symbols and interactions- all which support the theme of illusion vs. reality. The complex thematic value of this piece stems from multiple aspects – the most important of which are the bridge through both its literal and symbolic meaning, the colour grey in all its depth and broad variations, the essence of time in all of its distortion, and the story 's style of writing.
...ony, and narration. Without these exceptional parts the theme would not have as much meaning and depth in its perception to the reader. The symbols show to the reader that there is a hidden message to what is going to happen in the end and hints to the theme of the story but is purposely ignored. Irony brings attention to the conscious or thoughts during the story and the unlikelihood of actually dying at the end shows how strong our minds are. Narration is brought to show the theme of his expected death and a diversion from the reality of the readers thoughts. The story is saturated with literary elements that help prove the theme of “An Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge”.
In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce depicts a potential hanging of a Southern slave-owner by Union Soldiers. The planter, Peyton Farquhar, is a southern sympathizer and attempted to sabotage union troops from rebuilding a railroad. Farquhar was given information about the railroad from a union spy posing as a southern scout in order to attract those who would try to support the southern cause. Once he is captured and hanged, the noose breaks and he plunges down into the river below. He manages to escape from the troops even though they are firing at him and return to his family. However, it is relieved that in actuality, the noose did not break and he was hanging the entire time he thought he had escaped.
In the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce it tell a story about a man that went through so much sufferance in see his own life being taken away from him in a slow death of being hung. "twenty feet above the water His wrists are bound behind his back, and around his neck is a noose that is tied to a beam overhead." as his life about to be taking away the author does a brilliant job of showing the agony of him being hung. Additionally the author tells how the northern army surrounded the man so the could watch his execution which adds more depth to the story that the soldiers were going to shit there and watch a man fall to his death. Further along in the story the man has fallen
In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", Bierce begins her short story on the edge with Peyton Farquhar, a 35 year old grower from the south, remaining on Owl Creek Bridge with his situation is practically hopeless in the face of his good faith and a noose around his neck. There are fighters from the north encompassing him. Two troopers, one on each side of him, take away the board in which he is remaining on. Tumbling to the water, Farquhar centers his last contemplations around his family, while additionally having any desires for liberating his hands and jumping into the water beneath.
took Farquhar into captivity to be hanged. At the end of part 1 directly before Farquhar falls to his death, the narrator says, “As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.” This quote marks an important turning point in the
Readers may interpret Bierce is An Occurrence at Owl Creek as a philosophical ideology of how one could be hopeful about life even at one is last breath. Bierce Romantic theory to describe Farquhar is escape. Although he was on the verge of being hanged, all he could dreamed of was finding a way to escape to see his family. “He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children (p.319).” He visualized himself falling into a cliff, running through shot fires all that to reach his house so he could see his family. Therefore, in his illusion, it is clearly seen how passionate he is about his family, and how he wants to see them even for one last time. “At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence! Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.” Despise knowing that he did not have any chance to live, Farquhar did not stop
Bierce portrays the undeniable disfiguration of the mind's perception when corrupted by fear through suspenseful symbolism throughout the story. One example is the piece of driftwood that Peyton Farquhar spots floating down the river before his imminent death. It comes to represent his inability to escape his impending fate and his unattainable freedom. The narrator describes Farquhar’s image of the driftwood as, “dancing” along a “sluggish stream” (Bierce 469). His inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy at the point of his death demonstrates the cruelty of war, and its capacity to change the way in which the mind comprehends inevitable phenomenon. Another conflicting symbol Bierce uses in the story is the element of time. Farquhar manipulates time in an illusion to keep himself from facing his menacing reality when he states, “Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene-perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium” (Bierce 473). Farquhar’s perception of time has lost all coherence and the passing of time is contorted as the moment before his death feels almost like an eternity. The fear Farquhar experiences as he is about to die depicts the terrifying nature of war which causes normal people to lose their lives for an abstract