An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce PDF

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“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce” "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by the American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce. Described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", it was originally published by The San Francisco Examiner on July 13, 1890, and was first collected in Bierce's book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891). The story, which is set during the American Civil War, is known for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is an early example of the stream of consciousness narrative mode PLOT: Peyton Farquhar, a civilian and plantation owner, is being prepared for execution by hanging from an Alabama railroad bridge during the American Civil War. Six military men and a company of infantrymen are present, guarding the bridge and carrying out the sentence. Farquhar thinks of his wife and children and is then distracted by a noise that sounds like an unbearably loud clanging; it is the ticking of his watch. He considers the possibility of jumping off the bridge and swimming to safety if he can free his tied hands, but the soldiers drop him from the bridge before he can act on the idea. In a flashback, Farquhar and his wife are relaxing at home one evening when a soldier rides up to the gate. Farquhar, a supporter of the Confederacy, learns from him that Union troops have seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it. The soldier suggests that Farquhar might be able to burn the bridge down if he can slip past its guards. He then leaves, but doubles back after nightfall to return north the way he came. The soldier is actually a disguised Union scout who has lured Farquhar into a trap as any civilian caught interfering with the railroads will be hanged. The story returns to the present, and the rope around Farquhar's neck breaks when he falls from the bridge into the creek. He frees his hands, pulls the noose away, and rises to the surface to begin his escape. His senses now greatly sharpened, he dives and swims downstream to avoid rifle and cannon fire. Once he is out of range, he leaves the creek to begin the journey to his home, 30 miles away. Farquhar walks all day long through a seemingly endless forest, and that night he begins to hallucinate, seeing strange constellations and hearing whispered voices in an unknown language. He travels on, urged by the thought of his wife and children despite the pains caused by his ordeal. The next morning, after having apparently fallen asleep while walking, he finds himself at the gate to his plantation. He rushes to embrace his wife, but before he can do so, he feels a heavy blow upon the back of his neck; there is a loud noise and a flash of white, and "then all is darkness and silence". It is revealed that Farquhar never escaped at all; he imagined the entire third part of the story during the time between falling through the bridge and the noose breaking his neck. 1 - What were your first impressions of Bierce’s short story? It's a complex and touching story: it deals with a lot of significant themes, like war, life, death, faith in an idea and so on. Although its lenght, the story is full of meanings and I think it's a good story.

2 - Why is the short story divided in three sections? It is divided in 3 parts because there are 3 main part : in the first part, there is the crisis, the critical moment ( the man is going to be hanged).The second part contains the exposition ( we know Peyton's ideas and life) and the complication (his decision to do something on that bridge against the Federal). The third part is the most tragic, because it is about the climax ( the entire allucination), in which the stress is obvious. The entire story ends in the worst way: Peyton dies, and we find out that the entire climax never happened. 3 - Read the end of section I. What do you think “the ticking of [Farquhar’s] watch” (p. 127) might represent? The ticking of Farquhar’s watch represents the inexorable passage of time and the imminent approach of his death. 4 - How long does Farquhar’s escape last? According to Farquhar's imagination the escape lasts almost a day from the moment of his execution to his awakening in front of his house, the next morning, after walking in the forest all night. In reality, this is only a thought that occurred to Farquhar in the few milliseconds that pass between the soldier stepping aside the plank and the breaking of Farquhar's neck. 5 - Why is it appropriate that the execution takes place on a bridge over a river? The execution takes place on "Owl Creek Bridge" because it was a real outpost of the American Civil War, in which Ambrose Bierce fought as a Unionist, and the bridge is also the reason why Farquhar is hanged, indeed, he tried to sabotate its construction to stop the advance of the Federal army in order to feel, for once, as a real soldier. 6 - Who is the soldier described at the end of section II (p. 128)? The soldier is a Federal scout, which had the purpose to bring Farquahr into his trap. He enters Farquahr's house with the excuse of needing some refreshment; He tricks Farquahr saying that the bridge has basically no surveillance, pushing him to act against the Federals, in order to arrest him and kill him. Farquahr isn't a soldier, but he believes in the Southern cause and he gives his contribute to the cause in any way he can, so he is a problem for the Federals. 7 - Read the following description from section III (p. 129). What do you think it might suggest? "He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert . . . they made record of things never before perceived. . . . He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf—he saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass." During the moments preceding his execution the main character , begins to see the environment with more perceptive eyes, because he is aware that those images he is seeing are the last oneshe will be able to see before dying; I think it suggests a sudden change in the protagonist's way of looking at life. He begins to pay attention to all those little things that perhaps he had not given importance to before.

8 - What point of view does the writer use in Part III of the story? Why is the point of view adopted particularly appropriate? In the third part of the story we have two point of view. On the one hand, the omniscient narrator who describes what is happening in reality. On the other hand, Farquhar's point of view, who describes what he sees during his hallucination. This double point of view is particularly appropriate because in this story even if the omniscient narrator knows everything about the story, he is not able to investigate into the main character's soul. For this reason Bierce has decided to insert also Farquhar's point of view. 9 - Why does this story not follow a regular chronological order? How would the effect of the story change if the events were described in order? According to me there is no regular chronological order to create and keep suspense high. In the first part we didn't know what was going on, who was the man and why he was there. Going throught the story ,in the second part everything was discover throught a flashback where Farquhar and his movent were introduce. The third part tells about the immaginary escape and read about it, it's truly addictive. Probably if this story would be in chronological order readers will guess all the story and that will be boring. 10 - While the background of this short story is the Civil War, Bierce is particularly interested in examining the psychology of someone who is going to die. How is human psychology described in such a life-threatening situation? Ambrose Bierce implies several things about the psychology of the human mind in the story. One is that the mind essentially creates its own reality, especially in a moment of great stress. Nothing that Peyton thinks is happening actually is. Although the entire episode Peyton imagines takes place in a fraction of a second, in his mind he travels quite far after the miraculous breaking of the hangman's noose. Even though there are logical inconsistencies in what he imagines he sees in the forest. Bierce also shows that a mind will reject a subject it perceives as too unpleasant. It is impossible for Peyton to accept that he is really about to die, and his mind creates a much happier outcome for him. He escapes, and will live! The reader is fooled as well, as maybe the happier outcome is one we would also prefere....