Foreshadowing In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is overflowing with literary techniques that allow the reader to experience the fate in which the condemned man is about to sub come to. First, among the few techniques used, includes the element of foreshadowing that is present throughout the story which allows the reader to guess what will happen to the story’s main character and condemned man, Peyton Farquhar. Next, Bierce uses personifications and similes to appeal to our senses through images of scenery described around Peyton Farquhar and the feeling of death that envelops him. Towards the end of the story, Bierce incorporates a lot of irony that makes the reader think Peyton has not really escaped his inedible fate. Bierce uses these various techniques that permit him to effectively use the element of foreshadowing. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to a man, Peyton Farquhar, that is about to be hanged from a bridge a long time ago during the

When Bierce uses personification describing the “dancing driftwood” Peyton sees floating down the “sluggish stream” this could indicate a sign of hope that Peyton is thinking of escaping if the noose would break and he would fall into the stream below. Along with personification follows similes when Bierce explains that Peyton’s pain as he is hanged “like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature.” This is then followed by the simile of the spider’s leg strokes that Peyton thinks he sees as he emerges from the stream after the noose breaks and he falls into the water portrayed “like oars which had lifted their boat.” This is also an example of irony because Peyton is thinking he can see this from the water which is impossible. These examples all contribute to the senses such as sight of the dancing driftwood in the sluggish stream and the foreshadowing of death as Peyton feels the intolerable