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An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Fantasy Vs Reality Essay

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Fantasy versus reality is a theme used in many short stories to misdirect readers and make settings or objects seem what they are not. The theme is often used to draw a blurred line between what is make-believe and what is truth. Many authors use the theme to mislead readers into thinking something else is going on, only to reveal the truth later in the story. This theme is apparent in the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Bierce was a writer born in 1842. In 1862, he attended Kentucky Military Institute. He then continued his military services by enlisting in the Union Army during the beginning of the Civil War. After fighting in several military engagements, Bierce left the army in 1867 and became a writer for a magazine and then a news outlet. After becoming a well-known writer, Bierce used his military experience as a source for his short stories. He was admired but often frowned upon for being a man of mystery and contradiction. (“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” 161) The …show more content…

Throughout the story, Bierce writes in a way that seems to oppose the theme he uses. Through Bierce’s telling of the story, he suggests fantasies like Farquhar’s are cowardly and will often lead to negative consequences (“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” 163) “…he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like a shock of a cannon – then all is darkness and silence.” (Bierce) This quote, near the end of the story, is what reveals that Farquhar has been fantasizing the whole length of the story. The quote also shows that he is ultimately executed and that the fantasy was his personal distraction from the harsh reality he faces. Farquhar transforms from a military dreamer into a man who is desperate to escape the horrors he faces. (Wilson and Moss 258) Farquhar’s mind creates illusions that distract him from what is really

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Only telling the readers the dialogue, actions, and the settings of the characters in the small american town. Making it seem normal until they reveal what actually happens in the long standing gruesome tradition of the lottery. While in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is also in 3rd person point of view; the readers are only limited to the characters thoughts. Which in the ending is accomplished when it is revealed the man being hung (Farquhar) thoughts are cut short. The two stories share the same point of view and both were told by a narrator.

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Farquhar gets captured by the Union troops and he realizes that he’s going to die from getting hanged. Meanwhile, the noose is around Farquhar neck and he starts to daydream about the possibility of noose breaking and falling into the creek. He then escapes the Union troops, and finds himself back home where his wife awaits him. As soon as he tries to embrace his wife he is forced back into reality by being hanged.

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Farquhar stands on the bridge, hands tied and able to see all that's around him. He stands over the river thinking of his family and the possibility of escaping. He begins to fall into the river and tries to make his way home escaping death. He finally arrives home with

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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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"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" begins with the capture of the protagonist Peyton Farquhar, a plantation and slave owner. Bierce paints a vivid picture of the surroundings around Farquhar as he awaits to be hanged. It then flashes back to the days leading up to the hanging. Where Farquhar was deceived by a federal spy claiming to be a confederate soldier. In the end, we see Farquhar escape from reality as he is serving his sentence to finally his demise.

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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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In literary terms foreshadowing is a method by which the author uses specific verbiage in a story to tell, or foreshadow, what is going to happen. The reader may feel as if they know what is going to happen before they read it, they could feel like a clairvoyant or that they are having a déjà vu experience. Ambrose Bierce’s story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has instances of foreshadowing that allude to the death of Peyton Farquhar before the story reaches the climactic point of telling of his fate. The first instance of foreshadowing is when Peyton Farquhar thinks that he can escape the hangman’s noose and swim home.

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However, one also used this same strategy as a way to deviate from reality, while the other used it as a way to face reality. Imagery was used to illustrate that An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’s Peyton

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How do you cope with the reality of day to day life? I would like to think I handle the reality of day to day life moderately well like everyone else. However, I began to question myself once again as I read Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” This story, with its unexpected ending, had me rereading it several times to pull out key details that led me down the wrong path the first time.

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In conclusion, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” demonstrates several foreshadowing techniques to predict Farquhar’s fate, such as imagery and preternatural plot elements. The preternatural ability to hear a watch ticking at a vociferous volume reveals that Farquhar was simply imagining that his time is ticking away. Also, the use of imagery when he is unnaturally describing the distant trees in great detail shows that he is dreaming about that as well and not living in reality, so he has not escaped the fact that he will die in real

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