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Summary: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

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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. Throughout the story we can tell by the way Ambrose Bierce uses military terminology that he had served in the military during the Civil War (Grenander) "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" carries the reader back to the American Civil War to experience the final days of Peyton Farquhar, and to reflect on the events and ultimate deception that brought him to his fate "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" takes place in 1860 as the civil war ravages the United States. The …show more content…

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. Without the use of irony, the story wouldn't be as suspenseful and there would be no build up to the

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In the short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, written by Ambrose Bierce, he tells the story of white southerner during the American Civil War who has committed a crime against the Union and is punished to death by hanging. Throughout the short story Bierce takes us the readers on a journey through northern Alabama filled with suspense and foreshadowing. Through the entire short story Bierce uses many different types of foreshadowing to anticipate the fate of the main character. Bierce foreshadows the ending of the story in three ways, 1.) Peyton Farquhar’s heightened senses, 2.)

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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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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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Often regarded as one of the more significant short stories in American literature, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce takes place during the Civil War and is about a secessionist young southerner named Peyton Farquhar. Farquhar is a prideful and fallible young man who desires to help the Confederacy, but for some undisclosed reason is not able to serve. He attempts to blow up a bridge controlled by Union soldiers, and is subsequently hanged. Ambrose Bierce designed this short story to keep the reader’s attention throughout, going into the mind of Farquhar, and he holds their attention through use of vivid imagery, realism, narrative structure, and foreshadowing. Throughout the story, Bierce uses foreshadowing to indicate

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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.

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Shock. Bierce serves it to his readers abruptly and unexpectedly. Bierce’s most notorious shock is found in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” when he writes, “Peyton Farquhar was dead…”(Bierce 401). This is such a surprise to readers because the entire story up to this point has been about Farquhar surviving his execution.

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Ambrose Bierce explains the water below Farquhar’s feet with such extreme detail that one can imagine the “'humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, [and] the strokes of the water-spiders' legs” (Bierce) reading the story. Using this technique helps the reader further focus and comprehend the message of the short story, the cruel Civil War is romanticized. In addition to the imagery, Ambrose Bierce’s well known short story also includes a significant theme of the contrast of a soldier’s glory with the reality of war. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Farquhar enters a dream-like delusion of escaping the bullets and his unavoidable hanging, only to be suddenly awakened by the reality of the cruel situation- he was going to be hanged. Bierce creates Peyton Farquhar as a character whose romantic ideals blind him from the harsh truth of war, and therefore contributes to the overall theme contrasting the idealistic mindset of soldiers and the gruesome reality of

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Tension Ambrose Bierce creates suspense in his short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. By using literary techniques such as story structure, imagery, characterization, time, setting. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is about a man who in the civil war is trying to burn the union bridge but is caught and we see his hanging. The first literary technique that Bierce uses to create suspenses is time.

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