Introduction
Ambrose Bierce is a prominent author known for his many works one of which is An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. This is the story of Peyton Farquhar a planter from the South. The story is set during the civil war. Peyton has been sentenced to hang by the Union Army for his failed attempt at destroying the Owl Creek railroad bridge. The author leads the reader to believe that Peyton escapes the hanging by falling into the river below and reunites with his wife and children at his farm. This is not the case since it is revealed to the reader at the end of the story that Peyton was hung to death, and the escape only happened in his mind seconds before he died (Bierce 1).
The story has three sections. In the first section, the author wrote it in the present tense to suggest that those were events that were currently taking place. The second section runs on flashbacks that provide information to the events that led to the present situation. The third and final section contains a story within a story giving the reader a clear picture of what transpired to Peyton. The author effectively used flashbacks, the setting of the story and Peyton’s senses to create suspense all through the story. Some critics consider this piece of work to have a gimmicky ending while others applaud it for its implementation of themes such as death and the different versions of reality (Blume 206).
The main theme of this short story is death. Bierce examines the need for humans to escape death even in this case by creating their own alternative reality as opposed to the real events transpiring. He pushes the reader to explore further what happens to a human both physically and psychologically moments before they die. The main techniques employed in this book include, irony. This is demonstrated when Peyton is being hung despite having failed at committing the crime he is being punished for. Another technique used is realism. This is evident by the detailed narration of the Civil war setting and the enmity between the two sides. Foreshadowing is another technique extensively used in this story. This is illustrated when the reader is told that Peyton slept walked all the way home. Foreshadowing that it was all a dream. Bierce employs these techniques to bring his story and characters to life.
The book illustrates how Peyton creates his own reality to escape death. As the moment of Peyton’s execution draws close, he deludes himself to believe that he has escaped the noose and has arrived at his farm to be reunited with his family. Delusion is not only displayed in this story by Peyton’s escape fantasy but also by his beliefs that he is a freedom fighter and a patriot. Bierce uses irony an untrustworthy narrator and irony to show the reader that the human mind can create its own realities to escape situations. He does not inform the reader that Peyton is hallucinating but instead expects them to draw this conclusion by themselves from the impossibility of the events in the final section.
Irony
Irony is demonstrated in this story when the reader witnesses Peyton hung for a crime he did not commit. Though Peyton had every intention of destroying the bridge, he did not succeed in doing so and therefore the crime he is being hung for, he technically had not committed it yet.
It is also ironic that he imagines having escaped the hangman’s noose. He goes through a series of trying events only for him to have his neck broken during the hanging right as he is about to reach the safety of his home. Another example of irony is how Peyton was duped by a federal soldier dressed as a confederate soldier to burn down the bridge. The irony is that the soldier that convinces him to commit this crime turns out to be an enemy soldier. This leads the reader to sympathize with Peyton despite his actions being lawfully wrong (Bain 36).
Irony is also portrayed when Peyton believes that by destroying the Owl Creek Bridge, he would achieve fame and portray his loyalty to the South but instead he ends up being executed on this very bridge that was supposed to be his source of glory (Schulze 2). Bierce also portrays irony in this story by showing the reader Peyton’s view where he believed he was living for a long period of time. The reader sees many series of events transpire while in reality he was falling to his death with a noose around his neck with only a few seconds to live (Talley 89).
Realism
Realism in literature is when a narrator portrays his story in a real-life setting. Realism in this story is demonstrated by how vividly the narrator represents the Civil war and the enmity between the two fighting parties. Bierce is able to create brutal realism representing the horrors and ugliness of war by narrating from both the first person perspective and the third person perspective too. The success obtained by Bierce from the surprise ending in history is made possible by how he realistically paints the world this story is set in. The reader is able to relate and connect with this virtual world created by the narrator since it so closely resembles the real world.
The narrator carefully and precisely describes the setting and terrain of northern Alabama during the Civil War. He describes in detail the ropes, beams, and planks that would be used in Peyton’s hanging. He expertly gives descriptions of the enemy’s’ soldiers positioning, how they hold their guns, detailed military rituals and conduct and the terminologies used give a vivid description of a world the reader would recognize. Bierce drew a lot on his experiences fighting for the North during the Civil War as portrayed by the story. Only in the end does a fantasy world replace reality in an almost similar real world leaving the reader grounded in their seat.
Foreshadowing
Bierce uses subtle instances of foreshadowing to create a gap between reality and illusion all through the book. His story hinges heavily on the surprise ending where the reader learns that Peyton did not actually escape the hanging but died from it. Although the narrator expects to startle the reader with the unexpected ending, there are subtle hints all through the story as to how fantastically this world the author has created is. An example is the description the writer gives about the soldiers and their weapons in the first section. They are illustrated to be holding their guns with the butts to the ground, and the commanding officer also has his sword to the ground. This directly contradicts with the many rounds fired at Peyton as he makes an escape through the river during his imagined escape from the noose. The weapons are in truth just there for the ceremonious purpose and are there harmless which should lead the reader to conclude that Peyton was in custody throughout (Linkin 67).
Another instance of foreshadowing is when Peyton is said to experience a sense of suffocation after he falls into the river after freeing himself from the cords tying. This foreshadows a coming suffocation that was to happen at the end of the story when Peyton dies. The water is said to be dark and cold, and there is also an instance where Peyton sees lights that keep fading. These are classic representations of what humans describe as the feeling when one is dying. It points to the fact that his death was coming in the future despite his deluded escape. Another example would be when Peyton was standing with a noose around his neck where the narrator describes Peyton’s thought of the possibly of cutting loose, diving into the water and swimming home. A man sentenced to hang would obviously have thoughts of escaping his captors to freedom. These were only the thoughts of a man doomed to die since there was little likelihood of a dying man’s thoughts coming to happen almost exactly as he had thought them.
Conclusion
Up until the last moments of his death, Peyton believed to have escaped and reunited with his family. He had a very strong will to live which comes naturally to all organisms. He is portrayed as a man who loved his family dearly; he was also a great supporter of the South. He did not want to die without knowing how his two greatest loves had turned out. His will to live was so strong he made up a conclusion for himself. Had it been possible for Peyton to untie the ropes that bound him, he would have and continued living. Despite all this, Peyton’s corpse hung from the Owl Creek Bridge he had ironically tried to destroy.
The story is laden with suspense; always leaving the reader on the edge wondering what Bierce will throw at them next. The author was able to achieve this through the utilization of different development techniques that propelled the story to a higher literary level. Many critics consider Ambrose Bierce a literary genius. His use of different techniques led him to create literal masterpiece. There are subtle uses of foreshadowing all through the story to prepare the reader for Peyton’s ugly fate. All through the story are links leading to the indication that Peyton will not live happily ever after as his delusion portrayed but would come to a fateful end. The author also used other techniques such as irony and realism in his narration. Bierce himself having served in the army during the civil war was able to paint a very vivid picture in the reader’s mind as to the events that transpired (Talley 93). He used irony all through the story to advance the main theme which is death. The reader sees Peyton hang from the same bridge he tries to burn. This presents a very sad finality (Talley 89).
Works Cited
Bain, Carl E. The Norton Introduction to Literature: Instructor's Handbook for the Complete and Shorter Editions. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991. Print
Bierce, Ambrose, Robert C. Evans, and Eric W. Atkins. Ambrose Bierce's "an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge": An Annotated Critical Edition. West Cornwall, Conn: Locust Hill Press, 2003. Print.
Bierce, Ambrose. The Best of Ambrose Bierce: (4 Classics in 1 Book). , 2013. Internet resource.
Blume, Donald T. Ambrose Bierce's Civilians and Soldiers in Context: A Critical Study. Kent: Kent State University Press, 2004. Print.
Linkin, H. K. (1988). Narrative Technique in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". The Journal of Narrative Technique, 18(2), 137–152
Schulze, John. The Lessons to Be Learned from Peyton Farquhar - "an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and its (anti)hero. Munich: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2005. Internet resource.
Talley, Sharon. Ambrose Bierce and the Dance of Death. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2009. Internet resource.
