An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Essay

How Symbols and the Narrator Help the Story Work There are countless different elements used in literature that mold works’ meanings and ways in which those works are interpreted. The symbols and the narrator’s point of view in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce are prime examples of how elements in literature create how a story is understood. The setting itself of this short story is a symbol. The setting is a symbol, because the reader is immediately given an impression of death and detest in the first sentence of the story. The story takes place during the American Civil War in the state of Alabama. The Civil War was a time characterized by hatred and the turning of brother against brother. Alabama was a state that was very for the Southern cause during the Civil War, and Farquhar is a testament to this fact when he attempts to aid the Confederate troops. After the war

In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Farquhar is shown trying to destroy a bridge in an attempt to help the Southern army, but is subsequently captured and hanged on that same bridge. Farquhar planned to destroy the bridge, but this plan actually led to his own destruction. Lentz explains how the bridge can be interpreted in a couple of different ways: a literal connection between the north and south, and a bridge between Farquhar’s life and his death (par. 2 and 3). As a whole, Lentz says that the bridge symbolizes transition (par. 5). Farquhar attempts to escape his death and believes that he found life, but reality catches up to him and he eventually meets death. Bierce parallels this to real life, because countless people create false hope for themselves, but as time moves on, that false hope is proven false and those people are disheartened and disappointed. The bridge is a major symbol in Bierce’s story and has multiple meanings, which help make the story be interpreted more