ipl-logo

How Does Bierce Use Irony In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

463 Words2 Pages

Carly Maisel
Coach Pitzer
English III - 4th
10 December 2017
One Last Breath The story takes place during the Civil War, with a southern family man named Peyton Farquhar. He was sentenced to be hanged by the Federal army. “The man’s hands were behind his back, bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck” (Bierce, 1). Because of the damage and tarnish he had done to the bridge this would be Farquhar’s fate. Bierce tells the story in an almost confusing way, by using both back flashes and foreshadowing. In the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce he uses many different literary techniques to amplify the suspense of the text. Symbolism is shown many times in Bierce’s writing. He shows the water as freedom, from death and punishment. In Farquhar’s daydream, he begins to think of a plan. If the rope drops him into the water, only then could he escape. “He knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream” (Bierce, 4). …show more content…

Peyton Farquhar, enters a deep daydream during the fall, he is imagining what would happen if he was not deceased. His aspiration is that he will receive the freedom to get back home to his wife and children. Farquhar experiences many indications of how he wants his future to turn out. “To die of hanging at the bottom of the river!--the idea seemed to him ludicrous” (Bierce, 4). When Farquhar finally gets loose and is on his journey back home, he was experiencing the pain from his bruised neck. Bierce describes it as “Horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them” (Bierce, 7). He used that word choice to create a vivid picture of what Farquhar was

Show More
Related

Suspense In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

528 Words | 3 Pages

After he got to shore, Farquhar began to run, he ran as far as he could until he made it back home. While running all he thought about was

Read More

Compare The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall And An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

1064 Words | 5 Pages

Within the last seconds of his life, Peyton imagines his escape from the soldiers, but this denial causes first causes him to ignore his death. Later, though, he accepts his death and experiences every sound and touch

Read More

The Rocking Horse Winner And An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

1001 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Peyton Farquhar's Death In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

613 Words | 3 Pages

He finally gets his hands untied using his “Superhuman strength” and as he ends his struggle "The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light.” This creates an image in the reader's head of his limp arms and body floating up to the surface towards the light. As Farquhar leaps toward his wife with wide arms, about to embrace her, he feels "a stunning blow upon the back of his neck" seeing a "blinding white light (blaze) all about him with a sound (...) of a cannon" then suddenly, "all is darkness and silence" (Bierce). This though, being the last sentence before the finale, it ties the whole story to and end with a final foreshadow. It helps foreshadow the events of Farquhar's final death because of the loud cannon shock, the darkness and silence, and finally the white light.

Read More

Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

1452 Words | 6 Pages

He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with thirst…” (Bierce 12). This too, like the last quote, helps foreshadow that Farquhar is still in the hemp.

Read More

Owl Creek Bridge Symbolism

473 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

365 Words | 2 Pages

After Peyton Farquhar was hanged the details became significantly more vivid. He felt that everything was dark and cold as if he were dead. Often people who are hanged die almost instantly from a broken neck however Farquhar felt “keen poignant agonies” that seemed to shoot down his neck and to his other limbs. Throughout the story there are many

Read More

Summary: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

814 Words | 4 Pages

When a federal spy disguised as a confederate soldier tricks Farquhar into risking his life to become the hero he had always dreamed of, Farquhar is put in his unfortunate situation. Farquhar inability to recognize the difference between a federal spy and a confederate soldier leads him to the decision that results in his untimely death. The story itself gives the readers a false sense of hope that Farquhar might actually escape his own death. Palmisano illustrates the author's deception when he writes"Bierce does not overtly inform the reader that Farquhar's escape is a hallucination but expects that the careful reader will realize the impossibility of events described in the final section of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Bierce expresses his disdain for the deceptive tactics used during the civil war by causing the reader to feel remorse for Farquhar's death.

Read More

Who Is Peyton Farquhar In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

462 Words | 2 Pages

Peyton Farquhar, the character of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” is a wealthy Southern slave owner of about thirty-five years of age. He is about to be hung for an attempt to destroy the Owl Creek railroad bridge. While he’s entitled life has prevented him from becoming a Confederate soldier, it is however stated that there was "no service too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake." And since he dies at the end, this statement shows Peyton as bit arrogant, determined and optimistic young fool.

Read More

Similarities Between An Occurrence Down By Owl Creek And The Great Gatsby

688 Words | 3 Pages

He constantly swoops in on her, and ends up realizing that he cannot get to her. The green light that shines so brightly in front of him, was already miles behind him, somewhere in the streets of New york. Also in An Occurrence Down By Owl Creek, While Peyton is getting dragged out of his home to be hanged for betraying the Union Army, he has the wildest dreams of escape. While falling from the platform with a noose around his neck, he dreams of an impossible escape where he dodges all the bullets being fired at him while his surroundings start to look beautifully unreal. By the end of the story, he realizes that he's already dead, and it ends with them telling us that his body is hanging from the platform by Owl Creek.

Read More

The Masque Of The Red Death Literary Analysis

1117 Words | 5 Pages

Farquhar was able to deviate away from the reality of his death through his vivid imagination. He escaped all the pain that he otherwise would have felt. Upon falling down the bridge, his defense mechanism kicked in and led him to imagine an escape he desired. He didn’t feel any pain for he quickly “lost consciousness and was as one already dead.” He was not in fear during his last moments because he believed that “despite his suffering … he now (stood) at the gate of his own home.”

Read More

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Essay

948 Words | 4 Pages

As you can tell from the title, something big happened at the Owl Creek Bridge, but you have to wait until the end of the story to find out the truth, or else you could be lost in someone’s daydream. The story had me intrigued by the different directions it could take you, but it all made sense in the end, and I discovered you sometimes have to dig a little deeper to find the whole truth about someone. Peyton Farquhar, a plantation owner in his mid-thirties, is being prepared for execution by hanging from an Alabama railroad bridge during the American Civil War. Farquhar, a supporter of the Confederacy, learns from a soldier that Union troops have seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it. The soldier suggests that Farquhar might be able to burn the bridge down if he can slip past its guards.

Read More

Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

425 Words | 2 Pages

Farquhar’s merely escapes being shot by the soldiers and vividly describes his surroundings. Ambrose depicts what Farquhar visualizes when “He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--saw the very insects upon them” (Bierce ). One knows that he is a good distance from the trees since he is in the river and looking at the forest. This concludes that he is not living in reality at that moment due to the impossibility of being able to see the leaves and insects in such detail from far away. Hence, he will most likely still be hanged since nothing he is experiencing is real.

Read More

Plains Warrior Narrative

569 Words | 3 Pages

He receives a dream that he will obtain a beautiful horse and scalp 4 enemy Indians (see page 121). His tale is told as his tribe just gotten out of the winter season and was hunting for meat. I do not know how a dream can be so specific in unfolding possible future events. I rarely

Read More

Bad Water Symbolism

1367 Words | 6 Pages

In Bad Waters In literature, water symbolism is conventionally used to convey lighter themes, such as life, cleansing, and purity. However, in a novel where a pair of young lovers endeavor to murder the mistress’ husband to achieve happiness and freedom in their relationship there is an abundance of dark and sometimes disturbing water imagery and symbolism. The author, Emile Zola, uses water symbolism in a nonconventional way to emphasise the dark themes portrayed in his novel Therese Raquin. Water would conventionally be used to symbolise life rather than death in literature, however Zola does the opposite and uses water to portray death or something akin to death. This is particularly evident in the river scene when the two aforementioned lovers, Therese and Laurent, are planning to drown Therese’s husband, Camille.

Read More

More about How Does Bierce Use Irony In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Related Topics

Open Document