“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a very interesting story by Ambrose Bierce. Ambrose Bierce faught in the American Civil War which gave him some background information for this short story (Bierce 387). Bierce was an interesting man who had some character traits that we have seen in authors before. Bierce was "idealistic, cynical, morose, stubborn" and known as "Bitter Bierce" (Bierce 387). He had a very interesting life story. After not completing high school, Bierce worked as a printer's apprentice then enlisted to fight in the Civil War (Bierce 387). After being shot in the head, Bierce worked in the humor section of several newspapers. Later he traveled to England where he wrote more before returning to America. My favorite part about Ambrose Bierce's life is that he disappeared in Mexico and no one knows what happened to him (Bierce 387). To this day no one knows how he died, when he died, or what he did in Mexico.

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a great Civil War thinking story. As the story starts off with an omnipoent narrator who is observing a hanging on a bridge, the reader is left to wonder what exactly the "civilian" did to result in a hanging (Bierce 390). Then the person who was going to be hanged drifts off in thought about his wife and children before presumably being hanged when the sergeant "stepped aside" (Bierce 390). The next part is narratorated by Peter Farquhar, who the reader later learns is the man being hanged (Bierce 390). At the end of the second part Farquhar is given information by a disguised enemy soldier who, using reverse psychology, tells Farquhar about a bridge that the enemy soliders could use to invade Owl Creek bridge (Bierce 392). In a twist in the plot the bridge was really a necessity to the Farquhar's side and by burning the bridge, he unknowingly helped the enemy (Bierce 392). That is why he was being hung. The next part of the story was very interesting as Farquhar seems to evade death multiple times by having awesome neck muscles that can withstand being hung by a rope, a great lung capacity to escape drowning, and ninja like skills that allows him to dodge bullets and even cannons (Bierce 395-396)! Then the reader learns that he really died by the rope and in a couple of ticks of a watch, Farquhar dreampt up the whole scenario (Bruccoli)! The concept of having an entire scenario and story thought up in a couple of seconds is something masterfully done by Bierce (Bruccoli). Very few people have been able to accomplish that to the successful degree that Ambrose Bierce did.

Bierce, Ambrose. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 387-396. Print.

Bruccoli, Matthew J., and Judith S. Baugman. "Peyton Farquhar." Student's Encyclopedia of American Literary Characters. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 15 Feb. 12.