Essays on Occurrence At Owl Creek

Introduction

Ambrose Bierce is a prominent author known for his many works one of which is An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. This is the story of Peyton Farquhar a planter from the South. The story is set during the civil war. Peyton has been sentenced to hang by the Union Army for his failed attempt at destroying the Owl Creek railroad bridge. The author leads the reader to believe that Peyton escapes the hanging by falling into the river below and reunites with his wife and children at his farm. This is not the case since it is revealed ...

- Introduction

The physical environment, as described in a story, can take on different meanings and describe various physical sensations when perceived by the narrator, both in first and in third person. The quality of the descriptions relating to the physical, sensual feelings such as sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch are affected by an omnipotent narrator writing from a third person perspective, or when written from a ...

Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is one of the most important American short stories. Set during the American Civil War, it narrates the tale of a Southerner who is hung for treason after trying to go against the Union. Throughout the whole tale, this character, Farquhar Peyton, is seen longing for liberty as he is alienated to Southern aspirations, which serves as a sharp counterpoint to the situation of slaves in the Confederate States. One of the main motifs of the story is the main character’s yearning for freedom. From the beginning paragraph, Farquhar’s aspirations ...

Themes in “Barn Burning” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

William Faulkner and Ambrose Bierce are both extraordinary writers, and they each have many publications that cover a variety of themes. Of interest are William Faulkner’s short story, “Barn Burning,” and Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Although both short stories comment on a variety of values and ideas, they are both connected by the very powerful theme of loyalty versus principle. Both stories share several similarities, but the strongest similarity is how they tackle the theme of loyalty versus morality. In fact, both of these stories tackle this theme through the protagonist of ...

Literature possesses a vast territory for expressing meaningful human feelings, abstract emotions, or themes. Desperation and comfort is a common theme in literature, encompassed in short stories, poems and dramas and reflected differently through the mechanisms of each literary genres, the style of each literary piece or the personality of the authors. Various literary genres like short stories, poems or dramas, possess their unique mechanisms for reflecting the theme of desperation and comfort. Looking at Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”, the poet uses techniques specific to poetry space for transmitting his desperate adversity to resisting ...

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The storyline follows the execution of Farquhar Peyton, a Southerner who falls prey to a trap set by the Northerners during the Civil war. The major cause of the American Civil War was slavery with the Northerners being against it while the Southerners supporting the same (Symonds). Social Realism can be defined as a means adopted to describe certain circumstances using written and painted media. In the case of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the author brings to light the actions of the characters while at the same time; he uses the major ...

Summaries

Ambrose Bierce wrote What I Saw of Shiloh as his memoir of the 1862 Battle of Shiloh, a Civil War conflict in which he served the Union Army that went against Confederate troops. The atrocities of war are clear in the depictions of Bierce, most notably when he recounted the defeat of the Union Army on the first day of the battle. At the same time, Bierce emphasized the follies of most of the soldiers who fought, whose desire to serve for prestige has ultimately alienated them from the people who permitted them to go to war, hence saying, “I ...

How is the reader presented with an unresolved issue Analysis?

“A Mystery of Heroism” by the author Stephen Crane is a story based on the soldiers at war. The story highlights Fred Collins, a soldier, during one of the civil wars in Europe who goes to look out for water so as to save his fellow soldiers in the middle of the war taking place; his colleague soldiers think his act as being stupid and foolish but Collins thinks it will be a heroic act to get to the well amid the battle and fetch water (Crane, 2010). He feels that since he does intimidated by any fear, passing through the battlefield ...

Analysis of An Occurrence at Owl Creek

Analysis of An Occurrence at Owl Creek In the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek, time functions deceptively to make the reader unsure of the objective reality. In parts of the story, time functions normally while the story is told from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator. In other places, time moves fluidly from normal speed to slow motion, from the point of view of an unreliable narrator. In the first part of the story, time flows at a normal pace for a while but begins to show irregularities. While Fahrquhar waits to be hanged, he hears: “Its recurrence ...

Analysis

Ambrose Bierce was an American editorialist also a journalist a short story writer and a satirist. He is probably best known for his mystical story, An Occurrence at owl Creek Bridge’ which is set in the American civil War as well as his satirical lexicon ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’. He had quite a sardonic view of human matters and was also pretty vehement as a critic actually earning himself the reputation, ‘Bitter Bierce’. Bierce was born in Ohio on June 24th 1842 and quickly rose to fame after publication of his short stories and other literary pieces. He disappeared after going to Mexico ...

‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” starts with Peyton Farquhar standing on bridge, with his hands tied behind his back and a noose around his neck. His execution is near and he diverts himself from reality and focuses on his imagination in which he is with his wife and children. Again he opens his eyes and sees driftwood in water below. Soon he imagines himself as the driftwood floating and escaping from water, away from his executioners and near his home. He finds his way home, travel throughout the day and when he is about to embrace his wife, the ...