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Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

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A casual reading of Ambrose Bierce’s work “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” reveals the concept of time as a cornerstone of the story. After all, the entirety of the work takes place during the main character’s final moments. The ticking watch in Peyton’s pocket counts down his remaining seconds, mimicking the sound of hammer on anvil. Bierce takes the familiar cliché of one’s life flashing before one’s eyes and translates it into an adventure that unfolds before death. Reading the end of the story for the first time instills a sense of shock and betrayal in the reader. This occurs because of the snap to reality that occurs as Peyton’s neck snaps, marking the end of his life, his brief escape fantasy, and the story. Naturally, this narrative …show more content…

A river relates to a common conceptualization of time as a constantly flowing stream, thus its symbolism within the story. When contrasted with the watch, Owl Creek acts as a constant in two senses. First, the river appears in both reality and Peyton’s fantasy, acting as the bridge between the two. Within the third section of the story, the action begins when Peyton becomes cognizant after perceiving that “the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream,” beginning the escape sequence and connecting the story’s two worlds. Secondly, the river faces no time deceleration within the narration, effectively making it an objective reference point for the passage of time, including its incorporation into the protagonist’s dreamt journey. Constant descriptions of the water as “swift” and “roar[ing] like the voice of Niagara” attest to the indelible flow of the Owl Creek. Much like the flow of real time, the flow of the river cannot slow or stop despite how one’s perception of it may change. In addition to the river’s thematic and symbolic importance, it also lends a great deal to the setting and plot. The vast majority of action occurs on the bridge over Owl Creek—hence the title of the story. Furthermore, had Union soldiers not taken the location, Peyton would not have gotten captured, thwarting the occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Thus, in a cosmic sense, the existence of the river holds as much responsibility for Peyton’s death as the passage of

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Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a story created by literary genius Ambrose Bierce and is set during Civil War times… The short story tells the narrative of Peyton Farquhar, a sympathizer of confederates who has been sentenced to his end by lynching from the Owl Creek Bridge…An occurrence at owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce shows why having an imagination is critical in making it through impossible times… An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a richly formulated observation on the flowing nature of time and need for imagination when a person going through tricky situation in his life… In the short story, the main character, Farquhar, generates his dream world out of desperation… Farquhar is on the verge of death, and imagining that escape

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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was a story written by Ambrose Bierce. He wrote it to be a suspenseful and confusing short story. The suspense brought on by Bierce employed to clench one's attention throughout this short story by using numerous literary techniques. With his use of imagery Bierce displayed that, in his mind, Farquhar, while being hanged, still had all of his thoughts and he believed that he was escaping the army, bringing suspense to the story. Farquhar thought that the rope had snapped and that he had fallen into the water, he imagined himself escaping the military by swimming away.

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Time is the motif of the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Peyton Farquhar tried to set an important bridge on fire to help the confederalist but was captured by the federalist during the American Civil war. For this he is to be hanged until dead but manages to free himself. Thanks to his use of imagery, symbolism, and plot structure Bierce created a story where time is fluid and not rigid. Bierce’s use of imagery is a prominent point in the story as in any story.

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Literary analysis of “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce, the Author of “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” about a man who was being hanged, throughout the story Peyton hallucinates and thinks that he has escaped the hanging but in reality he’s dying. Bierce uses symbolism in “ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to foreshadow that Peyton is going to die. There are multiple allusions throughout the story that Bierce used to convey the death of Peyton. Imagery is used throughout the entire story to show that Peyton is hallucinating. Throughout the entire story Bierce uses multiple literary techniques to foreshadow Peyton’s death.

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In this way, it is perceived that the entirety of the narrative takes place in the span that it takes for the rope to catch Mr. Farquhar's fall, the barest second. This represents the dilation of time throughout the story, allowing the experience of the main character to stretch out for a seemingly long amount of time, as it did in the past, but in effect, is only iterated for a second. Bierce utilizes two different techniques to disrupt the linear timestream in his short story The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The duration of Mr. Farquhar’s experience is stretched over an extended period of time, and, yet fused with the present.

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In the short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce, the author tells the story of a man named Peyton Farquhar who was hanged for his crimes and being a Confederate saboteur. Within seconds of being hung, Farquhar imagines himself surviving being hung and escaping to his family. Ultimately, he actually dies since it was only a manipulation of reality. Besides the fact of his death, Time is an idea that it clearly present in the story and demonstrates an important role. Time plays an important role in the story by displaying how extraordinary the mind can do in a short period of time, that 8 manipulation of time does not remove one from reality and Farquhar’s lack of control of events.

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In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the central character Peyton Farquhar functions as a symbol of romanticism. He is an idealistic man with a decidedly romantic view of war: “no service was too humble for him…no adventure too perilous” (Bierce 320). In addition, Farquhar’s reemergence from underwater is a classic romantic rebirth image (Owens 85). Yet while Farquhar himself represents romanticism, Bierce’s characterization of him is far from rose-colored. Bierce makes uses of burlesques to transform Farquhar from a romantic symbol to a satiric object.

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The soldier’s began to shoot at him as he continually dives underneath the water. Finally he is flung upon the sand. Peyton Farquhar was dead, his body, with a broken neck, swung gently side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge. The story advances more than one theme. The first explores that idea of time.

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