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Ambrose Bierce is not a preacher, and he does not preach through his stories. There are no good or evil men in this tale, and readers hoping for a moral, or even a strong sense of moralism, should stop at the noose in the third sentence, for this is all the moral Bierce will give you explicitly. What is, is, this story seems to say emphatically, and ironic, strange, or contrary that might be, there's just no changing this simple fact of life.
There's also no changing the fact that some of this tale is somewhat systematic in its exposition, with key information coming late in several passages as a revelation that turns the direction of the story in a near reversal each time. But through it all, Bierce's even tone and calm, lucid prose resists any temptation towards cliches of sensationalism, plodding directly and singularly...
Farquhar thinks many ting while standing on that bridge, and when his feet have left the solidness of the wood and rails, but none of them really prepare either he or the reader for the objective truth. By the end of the story it is apparent that this is the only thing that really matters, explaining Bierce's subtle tone.
The end of this tale is as surprising as any other part of it. Without the final sentence, the entire story would simply be another lamentation of a man dying, and of a man or men betrayed (regardless of the reader's perspective on the particular events at hand). With it, Ambrose Bierce has crafted a powerful piece of literature that reflects many of our less noble traits back. This reader knows something has value if he is humbled, and I gravely bow to "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."
Peyton Farquhar is not a soldier, but a wealthy plantation owner who was attracted to the possibility of dignifying himself by being of service to the South during the civil war. Tricked by a federal scout into trying to do something heroic for the South, he is about to hang from the bridge that he intended to burn. Bierce describes Farquhar's experience as one of extreme agony, followed by hope
After Fuentes novel, later was made a film, " Old Gringo," with Gregory Peck in the title role. Bierce also joined the characters of the movie From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (set in 1913, a prequel to the original From Dusk Till Dawn). Bierce was an inspiring figure for the producer of the movie. In the film he is first attacked by bandits, and then trapped in
Owl Creek Bridge I have researched and written many essays and scholarly papers on the Civil War, and have nearly come to tears reading deeply personal stories by those who witnessed the carnage and bloodshed. The Battle of Gettysburg (in which 51,000 men lost their lives) seems unreal today, but it kills the heart to read about the horrific way in which a soldier slowly, painfully dies when stabbed with
The author lays more stress on depicting the emotional journey of Farquhar, which results in a subjective treatment of time. From here on there is a slow down of time and the narration at times begins to be fictitious. As Stuart C. Woodruff a literary analyst puts it, " somehow the reader is made to participate in the split between imagination and reason, to feel that the escape is
Emily Grierson and Ambrose Bierce In works of fiction, traditionally the sympathetic characters do actions that are heroic and those that are supposed to be unsympathetic perform actions that are decidedly less so. Given that humans are very judgmental creatures, authors have tried to change reader perceptions by providing plots where characters that may perform unspeakable acts are arguably the most sympathetic creatures in the piece. It is difficult to see
In a fighting scene, we see how he is filled with an "intense hate" (111) and when he "was firing, when all those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his occupation that he was not aware of a lull" (111). After this incident, Henry throws himself down "like a man who had been thrashed" (111). Those around him saw him as "a war devil" (112). Here we