An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
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Ambrose Bierce, author of the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” meticulously chronicles the experience of a southern secessionist during the Civil War, who is on the edge of death. Peyton Farquhar is a prominent Alabaman planter that has been prevented from joining the Confederate cause, but not from “having the heart of a solider”. He knew the opportunity to prove himself capable would come, as it always does in war time, and it presented itself in the form of the Owl Creek Bridge(65). After being captured attempting to sabotage the rail line, he was sentenced to hang. Within this narration, there are changes in point of view from section to section which shape the direction of the theme. Section one switches from third person objective omniscient to limited omniscient, which is also what section two is categorized as, and section three is third person subjective omniscient. With many changes in the point of view, the line between reality and illusion is blurred, and the unreliable dreamlike narration of the events become the metaphor for the human mind and its innate desire for survival.
In section one, the narrator describes Farquhar standing on the edge of the bridge about to meet the last moments of his life. As he begins to drift off to a comfortable place thinking of his loved ones, the “metallic percussion like stroke” of his watch rudely shakes him of his reverie and returns him to reality. This implication of hearing every second pass is symbolic of his life slowly slipping away, increasing the panic he feels to stay alive. With this, his mind starts producing fanciful scenarios for which he could escape. “If I could free my hands,” he thought, “I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets, and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods, and get away home”(64). This is a scheme, brought about by the motivation to