An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge

1. An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge Written By: Ambrose Bierce

2. Ambrose Guinnet Bierce • Born: 1842, January 24th in Horse Cave Creek, Meigs County, Ohio. • Death: Unknown – last correspondence dated December 26, 1913 in Texas

3. 1861: Bierce enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Infantry for the Civil War. He was a soldier for the entire duration of the war until resigning in 1865 after receiving a bullet wound to the head.

4. As a soldier, the war and the experience influenced many of his works: Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” was written with the setting of the war, the mood and the people of the war in mind. • “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” was published in 1890, collected in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, a book of Bierce’s short stories published in 1891. 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Color Guard

5. The story is set during the Civil War, focusing on the Confederate Soldier, Peyton Farquhar, who is awaiting to be hanged. • The story was written in three parts:

6. Part 1: Reader is introduced to Peyton’s present situation and his mind set. • Part 2: Peyton’s background and how he obtained the misfortune of having a noose around his neck on Owl Creek Bridge. • Part 3: What goes on in Peyton’s mind before his hanging: an imagined escape from the noose, the bridge and death. Ending in a realistic turn, Peyton is hanged, his neck breaks and he does die.

7. Ambrose Bierce’s story takes the reader on a journey with the hero in an almost convincing adventure that nearly reassures the reader that the hero will escape; until shockingly he doesn’t, he dies and swiftly after, the story is over. • Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” would not have had succeeded in having such a shocking ending if it were not for the language used. … • How does Ambrose Bierce use descriptive or poetic language?

8. “His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it horriblyswollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope hadbruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them.His tongue was swollen with thirst; he relieved its fever by thrustingit forward from between his teeth into the cold air. How softly theturf had carpeted the untraveled avenue--he could no longer feel theroadway beneath his feet!Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking,for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from adelirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he leftit, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He musthave traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passesup the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; hiswife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda tomeet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smileof ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, howbeautiful she is! He springs forwards with extended arms. As he isabout to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck;a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like theshock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gentlyfrom side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.”

9. In this final passage of the story, the reader is faced with coming to terms with the fact that Peyton is now going through the bodily effects of being hanged. • Bierce introduces the same stylistic elements he uses in the beginning of Part 3 as a foreshadowing of Peyton’s death. Using both fantastic elements and the reality of the hanging process he maintains the readers uncertainty and hope that Peyton may actually survive. However, this time around, the foreshadowing ends with a blunt conclusion.

10. “His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it 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. His tongue was swollen with thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from between his teeth into the cold air. How softly theturf had carpeted the untraveled avenue--he could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet!” • What is highlighted in red are all the indicators of the fact that Peyton is going through the hanging process – the reality of being hanged. • What the reader is left with is still the fantastic to dwell in. The fantasy/reality mix allows the reader to slowly break from the fantasy and come into a slow realization that Peyton is in fact dying.

11. “Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forwards with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!” • Through this passage, Bierce introduces the light of death, the sudden clarity that one may experience before death “recovering from delirium”. • Bierce is painting multiple pictures with his words. The reader is both given three ways to identify with the story: Peyton is in fact dying, Peyton found his way home, Peyton is experiencing a face of heaven. • Bierce continues the fantasy, adding the taste of reality until the end of the story.

12. “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gentlyfrom side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.” • The reader is then returned to the bluntness and description that is reality. Much like Part 2 and the first half of Part 1, the text goes back to realistic description instead of fantastic narration. The ending is cold and uncomforting, much unlike the paragraph before, but much in the nature of the reality of death itself.

13. Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” uses descriptive and poetic language as a device in many ways throughout the story; foreshadowing, character portrayal, identifying between fantasy and reality and to evoke a mood.