ipl-logo

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Devices

781 Words4 Pages

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” written by Ambrose Bierce, was originally published in 1890. Though it is a short story, Bierce finds opportunities to employ numerous literary techniques throughout to make the literature action-packed. These literary techniques create and sustain suspense throughout the entire reading. Possibly the most prominent literary technique found in this story is imagery. Imagery is described as “the use of figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses” (literarydevices.net). Bierce exerts numerous examples of this. In part I, when the soldiers are about to let Farquhar hang, he closes his eyes to fix his “last thoughts” on his family. This is the moment he begins to lose his sanity. “If I could free my hands… reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home… My wife and little ones are still beyond the invader’s farthest advance” (Bierce 483). This creates suspense by making the reader think Farquhar is going to attempt to escape his doomed situation and get back to his family, but that suspense is quickly retracted when Bierce suddenly ends part I and goes into part II. However, that suspense is then resumed in part III when Farquhar does indeed try to escape and get back home… or so we think. The entirety of the “escape sequence” in part III is an example of …show more content…

These three examples are only a few of the suspenseful elements used in this short story. In many ways, this story was ahead of its time. Creating visual pictures similar to what we see on cinema screens in today’s modern age. Movie directors can easily create authentic suspense, but it’s more difficult to do in writing. Bierce absolutely, expertly used literary technique upon literary technique to create suspense in this short

Show More
Related

The Rocking Horse Winner And An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

1001 Words | 5 Pages

While reading the 5 fiction short stories there became a common pattern between 3 stories and the characters in them. These stories are “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence, “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Every character has the mindset to possibly fulfill their goals to better and/or change their lives. “The Rocking Horse Winner” is about a boy named Paul who wants to win his mother’s love and attention. By giving her the life she always wanted.

Read More

Most Dangerous Game Imagery Essay

920 Words | 4 Pages

Panic, anxiety, and most importantly, fear, are all components that form the adventurous tale, The Most Dangerous Game. Rainsford, the protagonist of the story, is widely recognized as an experienced hunter who ventures off in a ship to travel to Rio in order to hunt jaguars. However, the story turns when Rainsford falls off his ship, encounters a hunter who hunts men, and becomes the prey himself. Although Connell sets up an intense plot by using irony, characterization, word choice, and other literary devices, imagery is one of the main aspects that releases an uneasy feeling within the audience. Imagery is a common literary device that authors use to engage a reader into the story, by painting the scene in the audience’s mind.

Read More

Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

1452 Words | 6 Pages

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

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

Literary Devices Used In Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game

572 Words | 3 Pages

Did you know that authors use many different literary devices to tell a story? A literary device is a technique writers use to make their stories unique and interesting. Literary devices like simile, metaphor, suspense, personification, allusion, irony, foreshadowing, and imagery are used in lots of stories. In the short story ¨The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell uses literary devices such as suspense and simile to help the reader gain a clear understanding of the story. In this essay, I will provide two examples of literary devices used throughout Richard Connell’s short story.

Read More

Summary: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

814 Words | 4 Pages

"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.

Read More

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing Analysis

813 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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

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.

Read More

Owl Creek Bridge Foreshadowing

425 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More

Most Dangerous Game Suspense Essay

784 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, suspense is created through the use of foreshadowing, different points of view, and cliffhangers. Without suspense, the book would be boring and uninteresting to read. The author uses these three main techniques to keep the reader engaged. First off, Connell uses foreshadowing to create suspense by using appalling words to map out the near future, and by using dialogue. The author uses dreadful words like “dark” and “cannibal” to foreshadow the daunting future.

Read More

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Analysis

971 Words | 4 Pages

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” revolves around the manipulation of time through the conflict of man versus nature. Bierce uses time in his favor as he switches between the past and the present life of the main character, Peyton Farquhar, as he lives his last moments. He uses this to show how time can be “subjective and phenomenal during times of emotional distress”. (BookRags). The manipulation of time that is unnoticeable whilst reading the story strengthens the themes that are present in this work, such as man’s denial of mortality, and the conjuring of irrational situations.

Read More

Strawberry Spring Analysis

1121 Words | 5 Pages

Murder becomes a touchy subject to the college students; the author mixes together a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the community college the protagonist attends as the short story progresses. It almost feels like one is on the edge of their seat when reading it. William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” displays suspense and tones of slight insanity, but it cannot compare to the undertones that lay beneath Stephen King’s work. The narrator’s foreshadowing of uncovering the truth through his own detailed point of view creates a well written short story dubbed “Strawberry Spring.” Skimming through the literary work, foreshadowing is an obvious detail that appears in the work several times.

Read More

How Did World War 1 Affect The Development Of Technology

808 Words | 4 Pages

How World War 1 affected the development of technology War and conflict tend to accelerate invention and innovation. During the World War 1, there was a significant illustration and application of technical skills regarding warfare technology. Some of the distinct activities recognized include the technical and massive production of weapons and the application of industrialization in exploring large machinery to be used in the war. According to research, the technological trend of applying science in producing weapons started way back during the American civil war where the American strategists and soldiers tested newly manufactured weapons in the events of smaller conflicts. Many analysts liken the military science used in the early days of World War 1 to the 20th-century technology.

Read More

Examples Of Suspense In A Rose For Emily

710 Words | 3 Pages

“A Rose for Emily” is a unique short story that keeps the reader guessing even though its first sentence already reveals the majority of the content. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is the epitome of a work that follows an unconventional plot structure and a non-linear timeline, but this method of organization is intentional, as it creates suspense throughout the story. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” follows an unusual plot structure, which creates an eccentric application of suspense to a short story. Throughout the story, there are no clear indications of standard plot structure in each section, such as intro, climax, and denouement. Instead, there are sections, which are not in chronological order, that describe a particular conflict or event, which in turn creates suspense, as each conflict builds upon each other to make the reader question the overall context and organization of the story.

Read More

More about An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Devices

Related Topics

Open Document