thesis statement an occurrence at owl creek bridge

A Summary and Analysis of Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ is a classic example of the American short story. Its author, Ambrose Bierce, was himself a fascinating figure, who is also remembered for his witty The Devil’s Dictionary and for his mysterious disappearance in around 1914.

Published by The San Francisco Examiner in 1890, ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ was reprinted in Bierce’s Tales of Soldiers and Civilians the following year. You can read ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Bierce’s story below.

‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’: plot summary

The plot of the story can be summarised in a few sentences, since the story contains little in the way of action. The story is divided into three sections.

The first section establishes the scene. During the American Civil War, Peyton Farquhar, a man in his mid-thirties, is about to be hanged. He is a civilian rather than a soldier, his profession being that of a planter; he is a gentleman from a well-to-do family rather than a common criminal. He has been tried for treason and sentenced to be hanged on a railroad bridge which passes over a river.

In the second section, we learn more about Farquhar’s background via a flashback. He is a slave-owner and a secessionist, devoted to the Southern cause in the Civil War. One day, Farquhar and his wife were at home when a soldier arrived at their front gate, asking for a drink of water.

The soldier told Farquhar that Union troops had seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it; as they talked, Farquhar – aware that anyone caught trying to destroy the railroad would be hanged, hinted that someone with the knowhow might be able to burn down the bridge if he could elude the guards.

But later that night, Farquhar saw the soldier return and ride north, and he realised that the man was a Union scout who had tricked Farquhar into a trap.

The third section focuses on the hanging itself. A lengthy description of the moment of the hanging follows, succeeded by an almost dreamlike sequence in which Farquhar appears to drop below the water, almost drown, and then emerge from the water and make his escape. Everything in nature, from the leaves on the trees to the spiders crawling over them, seems to be alive in a new way, and Farquhar’s ears are attuned to sounds he had never heard before. He makes his way home and is reunited with his family.

But this was all nothing more than a fantasy on his part: the very last paragraph of the story informs us that the rope didn’t break, and Farquhar has, in fact, died.

‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’: analysis

‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ might be regarded as an imaginative variation on the common notion that our lives flash before our eyes shortly before we die. But the style of Bierce’s short story, and the narrative skill he displays, both prefigure the modernist innovations of twentieth-century writers like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Katherine Mansfield, whose fiction similarly seeks for new ways to portray time and the individual’s subjective experience of the world.

Modernism would only come to the fore as a literary movement in the early years of the twentieth century, so Bierce is ahead of these innovators in his approach: in his focus on psychology over incident (aside from the central incident of Farquhar’s hanging, nothing else happens), in his interest in how the condemned man’s mind thinks rather than simply in what he thinks about, and in his innovative use of time, especially flashback or analepsis.

Take the moment when Bierce hears his watch ticking shortly before he is going to be hanged:

Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith’s hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by – it seemed both. Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell.

Things then intensify:

He awaited each stroke with impatience and – he knew not why –apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.

We find similar moments in the works of Poe and Dickens: the latter’s description of Fagin’s worried mind as he waits to be sentenced to hanging at the end of Oliver Twist would make for an interesting comparative analysis between Bierce’s story and Dickens’s description of the psychology of a condemned man. But what lifts Bierce’s writing to new heights is the sheer length of his description, particularly in the third section of ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.

The eighteenth-century man of letters Samuel Johnson once observed that when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. What if a man knows he is to be hanged in a few moments? Bierce’s story attempts to describe, in detail, what it might feel like to be just seconds away from one’s own death, as well as the experience of dying itself.

Nobody can go through such an experience (at least, not the dying part) and live to tell the tale, of course, but Bierce’s attention to small details paints a plausible picture of what it might feel like to be on the verge of death.

But why go to such lengths to give us a detailed description of Farquhar’s last thoughts, his unconscious delusion or hallucination that he has escaped from the noose and re-joined his family? Bierce was himself a Civil War veteran (he was almost fifty when he wrote ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’), and he was doubtless familiar with many other narratives which sought to glorify or romanticise war.

Instead, the romantic, dreamlike sequence in which Farquhar cheats his fate and survives the hanging is suddenly cut off, much as Farquhar’s own life is quickly cut short, only to be replaced by the cold, hard reality of war: death, swift and final.

So we might view ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ as both an innovative piece of short fiction and as an anti-war story. And these two features of Bierce’s narrative work together: in pulling the metaphorical rug out from under us as readers in that devastating final paragraph, we are forced to confront the ugly truth of war, where life is cheap and thousands of men like Farquhar, including civilians, are killed.

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“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce: Analysis

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce was first published in 1890 in Bierce’s collection of short stories titled Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.

Introduction: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

Table of Contents

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce was first published in 1890 in Bierce’s collection of short stories titled Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. The story is set during the American Civil War and tells the tale of a Confederate sympathizer, Peyton Farquhar, who is about to be hanged by Union soldiers for attempting to sabotage a railroad bridge. The story is known for its unexpected twist ending and its exploration of the themes of illusion versus reality, the nature of time, and the futility of war. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has since become one of Bierce’s most famous and frequently anthologized works, and it continues to be studied and admired by readers and scholars alike.

Main Events in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

• Setting the Scene:
• A man, identified later as Peyton Farquhar, stands on a railroad bridge about to be hanged by Union soldiers during the Civil War.
• The Preparation: Military procedures for the execution are described with cold precision.
• Initial Escape: The rope holding Farquhar appears to break (revealed later as a delusion).
• Farquhar’s Background: The narrative delves into Farquhar’s past as a wealthy planter and Confederate sympathizer eager to contribute to the war effort.
• The Scout: A disguised Federal scout gives Farquhar information (and a trap) about sabotaging the Owl Creek bridge.

Section III

• The Fall and Release : Farquhar falls into the river, the noose breaks, and he struggles to free himself.
• Hyper-awareness: His senses become incredibly exaggerated, noticing minute details.
• Evasion: He evades gunfire from the soldiers on the bridge.
• Artillery Fire: A cannon is fired at him, and he’s caught in a vortex.
• Flight into the Forest: He escapes to shore and runs desperately through the woods.
• Homecoming: Despite exhaustion and pain, he envisions reaching his home and the welcoming embrace of his wife.
• The Reality of Death: The scene cuts back to the bridge – Farquhar’s imagined escape was a final delusion before his neck snapped and he died.

Literary Devices in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

• Allusion – a reference to a well-known person, place, event, or another literary work. In the story, Bierce alludes to the Bible by comparing the sound of Farquhar’s watch to “the ticking of the death-watch in the wall.” This allusion heightens the sense of impending doom.
• Characterization – the process by which an author reveals a character’s personality or traits. Bierce characterizes Farquhar as a desperate and patriotic man who is willing to risk everything for the Confederate cause. However, the story also subtly reveals a degree of naiveté and delusion in Farquhar’s perspective.
• Dramatic Irony – when the audience knows something that a character does not. The story uses dramatic irony to build tension, as the reader knows that Farquhar’s imagined escape is not real, but he does not. This irony makes his final realization all the more tragic.
• Flashback – a scene or event from the past that interrupts the chronological order of the story. The story uses a flashback to explain how Farquhar came to be on the bridge in the first place, providing crucial context for his motivations and actions.
• Foreshadowing – a hint or clue about what will happen later in the story. Bierce uses foreshadowing to suggest that Farquhar’s escape may not be real, such as when he describes the water as feeling “like a coating of oil.” These subtle hints prepare the reader for the shocking twist.
• Imagery – the use of vivid or descriptive language to create mental images in the reader’s mind. Bierce uses imagery throughout the story to create a sense of realism and immerse the reader in Farquhar’s experience, such as when he describes the sounds and sights of the battlefield.
• Irony – when the opposite of what is expected happens. The story uses irony in the twist ending, where Farquhar’s escape is revealed to be a fantasy. This situational irony underscores the futility of his struggle and the cruelty of war.
• Metaphor – a comparison between two things that are not alike without using “like” or “as.” Bierce uses metaphor to describe Farquhar’s death as “a bright flash” that “burned his eyes.” This metaphor emphasizes the suddenness and violence of his end.
• Personification – giving human-like qualities to non-human objects or ideas. In the story, Bierce personifies the trees as “sending forth a long, sighing murmur” as Farquhar approaches. This personification contributes to the eerie atmosphere of his imagined escape.
• Point of View – the perspective from which a story is told. The story is told from a third-person omniscient point of view, allowing the reader to see inside Farquhar’s mind while also providing objective narration. This limited omniscient perspective is crucial to the story’s impact, as we share in Farquhar’s delusions before the final reveal.
• Repetition – the repeated use of a word or phrase for emphasis. Bierce uses repetition to describe the sound of Farquhar’s watch as “distinct, metallic, and insistent.” This repetition underscores the relentless passage of time as he awaits his execution.
• Symbolism – the use of objects or concepts to represent larger ideas or themes. The bridge symbolizes the boundary between life and death. The river, initially offering hope, ironically becomes a symbol of Farquhar’s entrapment as his escape is a delusion.
• Tone – the author’s attitude towards the subject or audience of the story. Bierce’s tone is somber and ironic. He initially builds a hopeful, suspenseful tone that sharply contrasts with the tragic, ironic ending.
• Verisimilitude – the appearance of being true or real. The story uses verisimilitude to create a sense of realism, drawing on Bierce’s own experiences as a Civil War veteran to depict the setting, characters, and military procedures.
• Vivid Language – the use of colorful or descriptive words to create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. Bierce uses vivid language throughout the story to create a sense of immediacy, such as when he describes Farquhar’s sensations in the water: “keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward…”

Characterization in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

Major themes in “an occurrence at owl creek bridge” by ambrose bierce.

1. The Illusion of Reality vs. the Brutality of Truth

• Deception of Perception: Farquhar’s elaborate escape is a powerful delusion in the face of impending death. Bierce plays with the reader’s perception as well, leading us to believe the escape is real.
• The Fragility of Hope: Farquhar’s desperate clinging to hope, even within his delusion, is shattered by his abrupt death – a stark contrast to the fantastical escape.
• Questioning Reality: The twist forces us to question our understanding of “reality” and how easily our minds can construct alternate versions of events, particularly under duress.

2. The Nature of Time

• Distortion of Experience: Bierce manipulates the sense of time within the story. Seconds stretch into seemingly endless minutes during Farquhar’s fall and escape, while his entire backstory is revealed in a brief flashback.
• Time as a Subjective Experience: This highlights how our perception of time shifts under extreme stress and how fleeting life can feel in the face of death.
• The Finality of Death: The story’s sharp ending cuts off Farquhar’s life, emphasizing the abrupt and absolute nature of death.

3. The Futility of War

• Dehumanizing Impact: The soldiers are depicted as mechanical automatons, highlighting the way war strips away individuality in the service of a larger purpose.
• Senselessness of Conflict: Farquhar, motivated by an idealized vision of war, falls victim to its brutal realities. The story reveals the harsh truth that lies beneath romantic illusions about war.
• Ambiguity of Allegiance: Through the twist, it becomes moot whether Farquhar dies as a Confederate hero or a saboteur – the end result, and the tragedy of it, is the same.

Additional Notes:

• Interplay of Themes These themes are deeply intertwined. For example, the illusion of escaping death could be seen as a manifestation of the futility of struggling against the war machine.
• Ambrose Bierce’s Experiences: His own experiences as a Civil War veteran likely influenced the story’s cynical view of war and its exploration of psychological trauma.

Writing Style in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

Vivid imagery and detailed descriptions:.

• “The water of Owl Creek dashed like a cold wave in his face; the strangling pressure of the rope on his neck relaxed …” (Creates a visceral experience of Farquhar’s fall)
• “…a gray veil which, descending, **hid the sky and shut out the world from him…” (Establishes a sense of impending doom)

Nonlinear Narrative Structure:

• The story opens with Farquhar about to be hanged, then flashes back to explain his situation, before returning to his present predicament. (Creates suspense and keeps the reader guessing)

Active Sentence Style for Immediacy and Intensity:

• “Farquhar was led to the bridge …” (Direct and action-oriented)
• “His eyes, just a moment before veiled with the film of death, **brightened with the tremendous **terror…” (Emphasizes the sudden shift in Farquhar’s experience)

Literary Devices for Depth and Complexity:

• Irony: The elaborate escape sequence turns out to be a delusion (Highlights the power of self-deception)
• Foreshadowing: The description of the water feeling “like a coating of oil” subtly hints at the unreality of Farquhar’s escape (Creates a sense of unease)
• Symbolism: The bridge represents the boundary between life and death (Adds another layer of meaning to the story)

Sparse and Direct Prose:

• “The preparations were simple…” (Understatement adds to the story’s grim atmosphere)
• “They are shooting me…” (Simple statement carries a powerful punch)

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

Questions and thesis statements about “an occurrence at owl creek bridge” by ambrose bierce.

1. Topic: Illusion vs. Reality

• Question: How does Bierce use the juxtaposition of Farquhar’s elaborate escape fantasy with the stark reality of his death to explore the nature of illusion and the fragility of the human mind?
• Thesis Statement: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” serves as a chilling testament to the power of self-delusion, emphasizing how the human mind can construct elaborate alternative realities in the face of unbearable circumstances.

2. Topic: Manipulation of Time

• Question: How does Bierce’s manipulation of the narrative timeline contribute to the story’s themes of perception, hope, and mortality?
• Thesis Statement: By stretching out the moments of Farquhar’s escape, followed by the abrupt finality of his death, Bierce underscores the subjective experience of time and emphasizes the fleeting nature of life.

3. Topic: The Ambiguity of War

• Question: How does “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” deconstruct romantic notions of war and present a more cynical perspective on conflict?
• Thesis Statement: The story challenges simplistic notions of heroism and loyalty in warfare, instead highlighting how war reduces individuals to pawns and diminishes the value of human life.

4. Topic: The Power of Symbolism

• Question: How does Bierce employ symbolism, such as the bridge, the river, and Farquhar’s watch, to add depth and layers of meaning to the narrative?
• Thesis Statement: Bierce’s careful use of symbolic elements transcends the literal story, conveying universal themes about the transition between life and death, the relentless passage of time, and the human struggle against forces beyond our control.

Short Question-Answer “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

Literary works similar to “an occurrence at owl creek bridge” by ambrose bierce.

• “The Secret Miracle” by Jorge Luis Borges:
• ·A man facing a firing squad experiences a profound distortion of time and reality in his final moments, similar to Farquhar’s delusion.
• “Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce: Another Bierce short story focusing on a child’s distorted perception of war, where the fantastical and the horrifying clash.
• “ The Yellow Wallpaper ” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Explores themes of delusion and psychological breakdown triggered by confinement, though the context differs.
• Short stories by Franz Kafka: Kafkaesque works like “The Metamorphosis” often feature elements of the grotesque, the absurd, and psychological disorientation.
• “The Body in Pain” by Elaine Scarry: This philosophical work examines how intense physical suffering can shatter language and perception, linking to Farquhar’s experiences
• Writings on trauma and PTSD: Explore similar themes of how the mind can fracture or create alternate realities as a coping mechanism in the aftermath of extreme events.

Suggested Readings: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

• Roy Morris Jr. Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company . University of California Press, 1999. (Provides a comprehensive biography of Bierce and insights into his literary influences)
• Cathy N. Davidson. The Experimental Fictions of Ambrose Bierce: Structuring the Ineffable . University of Georgia Press, 1987. (Offers a detailed analysis of Bierce’s writing techniques and explores themes within his works).
• Stuart C. McWilliams. Ambrose Bierce: A Biography . LSU Press, 2012. (A more recent biography that delves into Bierce’s life and the possible influence of his Civil War experiences on his writing)
• M.E. Grenander. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Ambrose Bierce’s Exploration of Reality and Time.” The Markham Review , vol. 3, 1972, pp. 41–47. (Focuses on the theme of reality manipulation and the distortion of time)
• Eric Solomon. “The Structure of Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.” Studies in Short Fiction , Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring 1964, pp. 264-269. (Analyzes the story’s use of structure and symbolism to create its effects)
• Paul J. Ferlazzo. “The Civil War in Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'” Studies in Short Fiction , vol. 8, no. 4 (Fall 1971): pp. 645–647. (Examines how the Civil War context enriches the story’s meaning)
• Ambrose Bierce Project: [[invalid URL removed]] (website). (A comprehensive resource with biographical information, texts of Bierce’s stories, and critical essays)
• The Literary Encyclopedia entry on “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”: [ https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4092 ] (Provides an overview of the story and critical perspectives)

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An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

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Discussion Questions

How does the Owl Creek Bridge as a liminal space (a threshold between two sides)? What is significant about Farquhar’s transformation as he crosses through the space? Use evidence from the text in your answer.

Bierce uses the literary technique of stream of consciousness before it became a common part of modernist literature. How does Bierce use of stream of consciousness in the story? How does it affect the story?

Bierce’s story is told out of order (not in chronological order). How does this structure lend itself to the theme of the Perception of Reality? Give evidence from the text.

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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

By ambrose bierce.

The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp. Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.

The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth. This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties. The arrangement commended itself to his judgment as simple and effective. His face had not been covered nor his eyes bandaged. He looked a moment at his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move, What a sluggish stream!

He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift--all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by--it seemed both. Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell. He awaited each stroke with impatience and--he knew not why--apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.

He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. "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. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance."

As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.

One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front.

"The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order."

"How far is it to the Owl Creek bridge?" Farquhar asked.

"About thirty miles."

"Is there no force on this side the creek?"

"Only a picket post half a mile out, on the railroad, and a single sentinel at this end of the bridge."

"Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel," said Farquhar, smiling, "what could he accomplish?"

The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow."

The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout.

As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. From this state he was awakened--ages later, it seemed to him--by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of his body and limbs. These pains appeared to flash along well-defined lines of ramification and to beat with an inconceivably rapid periodicity. They seemed like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature. As to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of fulness--of congestion. These sensations were unaccompanied by thought. The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment. He was conscious of motion. Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck was already suffocating him and kept the water from his lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river!--the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface--knew it with reluctance, for he was now very comfortable. "To be hanged and drowned," he thought? "that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair."

He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He gave the struggle his attention, as an idler might observe the feat of a juggler, without interest in the outcome. What splendid effort!--what magnificent, what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched them with a new interest as first one and then the other pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of a water snake. "Put it back, put it back!" He thought he shouted these words to his hands, for the undoing of the noose had been succeeded by the direst pang that he had yet experienced. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire; his heart, which had been fluttering faintly, gave a great leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body was racked and wrenched with an insupportable anguish! But his disobedient hands gave no heed to the command. They beat the water vigorously with quick, downward strokes, forcing him to the surface. He felt his head emerge; his eyes were blinded by the sunlight; his chest expanded convulsively, and with a supreme and crowning agony his lungs engulfed a great draught of air, which instantly he expelled in a shriek!

He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies, the grey spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water-spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat--all these made audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water.

He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round, himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort, the soldiers upon the bridge, the captain, the sergeant, the two privates, his executioners. They were in silhouette against the blue sky. They shouted and gesticulated, pointing at him. The captain had drawn his pistol, but did not fire; the others were unarmed. Their movements were grotesque and horrible, their forms gigantic.

Suddenly he heard a sharp report and something struck the water smartly within a few inches of his head, spattering his face with spray. He heard a second report, and saw one of the sentinels with his rifle at his shoulder, a light cloud of blue smoke rising from the muzzle. The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.

A counter-swirl had caught Farquhar and turned him half round; he was again looking into the forest on the bank opposite the fort. The sound of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears. Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the lieutenant on shore was taking a part in the morning's work. How coldly and pitilessly--with what an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing tranquillity in the men--with what accurately measured intervals fell those cruel words:

"Attention, company! . . Shoulder arms! . . . Ready! . . . Aim! . . . Fire!"

Farquhar dived--dived as deeply as he could. The water roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dulled thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent. One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably warm and he snatched it out.

As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther down stream nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. The two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.

The hunted man saw all this over his shoulder; he was now swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as energetic as his arms and legs; he thought with the rapidity of lightning.

The officer," he reasoned, "will not make that martinet's error a second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a single shot. He has probably already given the command to fire at will. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!"

An appalling splash within two yards of him was followed by a loud, rushing sound, diminuendo, which seemed to travel back through the air to the fort and died in an explosion which stirred the very river to its deeps!

A rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! The cannon had taken a hand in the game. As he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond.

"They will not do that again," he thought; "the next time they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me--the report arrives too late; it lags behind the missile. That is a good gun."

Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round--spinning like a top. The water, the banks, the forests, the now distant bridge, fort and men--all were commingled and blurred. Objects were represented by their colors only; circular horizontal streaks of color--that was all he saw. He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and sick. In a few moments he was flung upon the gravel at the foot of the left bank of the stream--the southern bank--and behind a projecting point which concealed him from his enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel, restored him, and he wept with delight. He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of olian harps. He had no wish to perfect his escape--was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.

A whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. He sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest.

All that day he traveled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was something uncanny in the revelation.

By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great garden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which--once, twice, and again--he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.

His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from between his teeth into the cold air. How softly the turf had carpeted the untraveled avenue--he could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet!

Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!

Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.

Shhhh! Friends don't tell friends how the story ends! That story is a great introduction to the short story writer's trick of the surprise or "twist" ending.

The story is also known as "A Dead Man's Dream." , but I didn't want to tell you that until after you were finished reading it ;- ).

Return to the Ambrose Bierce library , or . . . Read the next short story; An Unfinished Race

Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Essay

This essay analyzes the theme of suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. The mystery story by Ambrose Bierce, that was written in 1890, focuses on the life of a middle-aged man called Peyton Farquhar. The plot of the story unfolds at the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865). For trespassing on the Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton is condemned to death by hanging upon the same bridge. A Confederate sympathizer, Peyton Farquhar is shown to be already bound at the edge of the bridge as the story starts. As much as the central part of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” essay is set in Peyton’s mind, it culminates in a curious twist in the plot. However, one does not realize this quickly until the end of the story. Only then the reader learns that Farquhar has died and is hanging with a broken neck from the edge of the bridge. In summary, all three parts of “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” are suspense-filled.

The author captures the reader’s attention with elements of horror and suspense throughout the story. As the story begins, the reader is introduced to a man having a noose around his neck, “The man’s hands were behind his back, his wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck” (A.Bierce, 1).

However, the reader is not told the reason for this sad beginning. Therefore, this beginning sentence cements the reader tightly and instantly into the story. One understands later that a confederate soldier had told the main character in the story about the bridge. One can only imagine that he is the one who tried to destroy the bridge since his fate is to be concealed by hanging from that same bridge.

Subsequently, as the noose breaks, the reader almost sees if the prisoner can flee from the Union forces and make it back to his wife and children. All through the short story, the reader is on edge to see if, in any case, Peyton can survive the ordeal. However, the optimism is soon taken away when the reader realizes that he was hanging from the bridge.

In the story, the author uses a third-person narrator with a limited omniscient point of view that creates a tone of analysis in describing Peyton’s experience before passing away. The author recreates a significant period for a man who is about to die. This brief moment is perceived to be the better part of a full day. As Bierce succeeds in portraying the most intimate thoughts of Peyton as he struggles to escape from the hangman, it creates a dramatic journey of anxiety and suspense.

In the journey, he seems to escape the hangman and manage to get back to his family once again, as demonstrated by the quote “As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it, the captain nodded to the sergeant” (Bierce, 4). As we take note of this significant period, it appears to last for the better part of the day. Still, as the story ends, one realizes that it was only taking place in the mind of the main character.

Moreover, the reader realizes that it was only the last moments of his life just before the hangman’s rope broke his neck and rendered him lifeless.

Even though the hanging is an important part of the plot of the story, it remains in the shadows of it. The author creates and maintains suspense by tricking the reader that Peyton escapes the ordeal. With the rope around his neck, the reader expects him to die. However, he plunges into a river filled with different kinds of animal images.

Instead of dying, the author gives the main character in the story an explosion of life. This literary technique makes the reader hooked into the text to be acquainted with the details of the profound occurrence of Peyton’s demise than would a less knowing point of view.

To heighten and consistently create suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, the author uses a variation on the gothic tension-release technique. He achieves this by giving the reader images that are strange, hopeful, but quiet. He then hits the reader with a barrage of bullets and pain and, all of a sudden, the main character is off and swimming or trying to escape.

Bierce intentionally employs this tension-release effect on numerous occasions throughout the story to maintain suspense before the unexpected ending. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” features an abundance of literary techniques aimed to change the reader’s mood drastically. Before enhancing the sense of tension and suspense using gunfire or sadness, the author takes us into a state of tranquil, but strange occurrences take place first.

The reader is taken back and forth from near-death experiences to sweet illustrations of life, to pictures of life after death, to the physical reality of getting hurt, and eventually nearly into the re-union with Peyton’s family members. Instead, the story’s finale is a sad note with the death of Peyton Farquhar.

Works Cited

Bierce, Ambrose. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge . Enfield, N.S.W.: Royal Blind Society, 1988.

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IvyPanda. (2018, July 5). Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. https://ivypanda.com/essays/suspense-in-an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-by-ambrose-bierce/

"Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”." IvyPanda , 5 July 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/suspense-in-an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-by-ambrose-bierce/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”'. 5 July.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”." July 5, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/suspense-in-an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-by-ambrose-bierce/.

1. IvyPanda . "Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”." July 5, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/suspense-in-an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-by-ambrose-bierce/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”." July 5, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/suspense-in-an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-by-ambrose-bierce/.

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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Ambrose bierce, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions, peyton farquhar quotes in an occurrence at owl creek bridge.

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck.

A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved.

Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.

A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!

He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thought upon his wife and children.

They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.

“My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance.”

As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it, the captain nodded to the sergeant.

Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause.

He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert.

He observed that it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest, in that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.

Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which hid a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which—once, twice, and again—he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.

As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him.

As he is about to clasp her, he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon - then all is darkness and silence!

Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.