An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

6 Pages 1504 Words

Ambrose Bierce is the author of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” It is a very powerful and suspense filled story. It tells all the fears of a young father coming to light as his life swings in and out of reality. This story is written in third person omniscient. This point of view certainly heightens the mood of the plot, by conveying Payton Farquhar’s feelings and emotions to the reader. The plot deals with the theme of death and the waiting of it to come. The story begins with Payton standing on a bridge with a noose around his neck about to be hung. Payton is about to be murdered for a war crime unjustly. The unique writing style of Ambrose Bierce is what brings to life the true feelings of a condemned man.
Ambrose Bierce writes this story during the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century. During this time period the two writing styles of romanticism, and realism were coming together. This melding of styles was a result of the romantic period of writing and art coming to an end, just as realism was beginning to gain popularity. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a perfect example of this transition of styles as it combines elements of both romanticism and realism to create a story that can be far-fetched while still believable at times.
The author has plotted the story in a very gratifying manner. The setting plays a big part because it is dived into three different sections. Sections I, actually tells the reader about when Payton was about to be hanged, and leads us from the beginning of the ceremony to the end where he is actually hung. It then goes on to Section II, where it tells us how he found out about Owl Creek Bridge, and what could happen if a civilian interfered with anything dealing with the bridge. Last of all Section III, tells the reader about Peyton’s hallucination of escaping the hanging.
When reading the story for the second time, it appears to be more interesting becaus...