Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines
The Story Line and the Time in the Story
The story is about a civilian who is almost to be hanged by the army people on a bridge next to a railroad.
The beginning part gives very detailed description of people, place, and the objects inside this place. There is a bridge over a river, a stand to hang this civilian, some soldiers around the stage and a railroad. Soldiers are getting prepared for the hanging ceremony, they are very careful and they are working in an order. There is a captain observing his subordinates' moves and preparation for the ceremony. At the same time, the civilian dreams about falling down into the river and dive into water to protect himself from bullets and canon balls and run away.
The time passes very slowly at this part, everyone moves very slowly and the people in the story can fit a few thoughts into a few seconds. That is probably because everyone is nervous. The soldiers want to commit the hanging ceremony perfectly and the civilian is looking for a small opportunity to run away and observes everything in details. The following example sentence provides a proof for this slowness:
“The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless. The sentinels, facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge.”
The words “stonily”, “motionless”, and “been statue” are the proofs of the slowness in the beginning part.
At the second part of the story is a flashback from the civilian's memory; the author gives readers a very detailed memory of the civilian's life. The time stops in this part and a very detailed memory is shared with the readers. The following detail proves us that the time is stopped by the author in this part:
“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.”
The third part presents us his escape from being hanged. He has fallen down to the river and he feels some pain around his neck and all around his body while trying to comprehend his situation. He is aware that he has a chance to survive and go back to his farm to meet his wife. He struggles to free his hands from the ropes around them and watch the soldiers behind him. He tries to dive and control his body so he can avoid the bullets and canon balls. At this time, the captain and his subordinates realize what is just happened , they start getting ready to shoot him. Then the action in the story starts, the civilian starts swimming eagerly and reaches the land and wants to run while dreaming. Suddenly, he got shot by a cannon ball and everything becomes silent.
The ending part starts with a beginning that happens suddenly – the civilian falls down to the river- and a time passes till the civilian and the soldiers realizes the situation. The sentence below gives us a proof for the slowness in this part:
““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””.
The civilian spends sometime to comprehend what is just happened.
Following the fall of the civilian, an action starts and everything happens very quickly. The following sentence is an example for this:
“ 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 civilian comprehends his situation and he starts moving very fast.
Finally, at the end of the story, the time completely stops, because he got a shot by a canon ball and he dies. The author gives us the feeling of a silence and a darkness that makes us feel the death:
“a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!”.
References
Bierce, Ambrose, (n.d.). An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, retrieved from http://fiction.eserver.org/short/occurrence_at_owl_creek.html.
Enrico, Robert, (1962) An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, Video retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuP5kUQro40.
