An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing Analysis

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. From his perspective the plan is simple, just slip the hands out of the ropes and the noose off his neck then jump into the water and . The unlikely event

The first instance is not hard to pick out, it’s an instance of hope to escape from the hangman’s noose. This is the simplest form of foreshadow, it was very cut and dry. The other instances in the story are harder to pick out. The second instance occurs when he is in the water trying to escape. He develops superior senses, like the sense of precise vision. He describes the veins on the leaves of trees and the grey color of the eye that is taking aim at him. If he was truly trying to escape would he take the time to look around at trees and leaves? This is an example of the story being a fantasy in his mind. The final foreshadowing event is when he starts to lose the feeling in his legs and confusion sets in. The condition he is experiencing could come from the rope snapping his neck and his body is shutting down. He sees stars, hears muffled voices, and loses the feeling in his legs. The foreshadowing of these is the board dropped beneath him, his fall to his death. The vision of stars and muffled voices could be the last few moments of his brain