Alabama during the Civil War. Peyton Farquhar is sentenced to death by hanging for disturbing the Owl Creek Bridge. Both imagination and reality have an affect on the story. Imagination and reality also coincide to further the story. Imagination played a huge role in "An Occurrence at Own Creek Bridge". From the reduced ticking of the watch to Farquhar almost embracing his wife, Bierce uses Peyton Farquhar's imagination to entertain readers. Most of Farquhar's imagination is in Part III, it
Peyton Farquhar is the handsome and kind protagonist in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Even though he is a dedicated supporter of the Confederacy, his imperious nature prevented him from joining. He experienced a life of ease coming from a wealthy family. This life of ease did him no good because he is vulnerable. Farquhar dreams of being something he is not which eventually led to his death. Farquhar may be considered a hero but others say he is an idiot. Peyton, being an ardent supporter
According to Cheatham and Cheatham, irony plays a big part in the development of the story. They argue that Peyton Farquhar’s name is ironic in and of itself. The name means to be manly or brave, a person of noble descent. Even with this noble name, Farquhar is not a war hero and manages is caught and executed for his attempted spying. In addition to Cheatham and Cheatham, Farquhar’s actions also hold a lot of irony. Farquhar thought of himself as a war hero, even though he was just a planted
is described as being close to death, until Ambrose gets further into detail. Not coincidentally, the narrator of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" says that the story is largely Farquhar's "thoughts … set down in words," signaling Bierce's concern with the epistemological and phenomenalistic issues raised by language (Duban). There are detailed words that paint a vivid image of the time era during the civil war. There are Union soldiers standing all around Peyton Farquhar, which then reveals that
revealed as false. Often times it is simpler to pick out the facts from the fake, but since Bierce intentionally uses reality and imagination for confusion, it might not be as easy to choose the facts each time. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton Farquhar was desperate, and the thought of surviving and reuniting with his family helped to control his ultimate fear of facing his demise. The perspective of the story goes through many changes of consciousness with a back and forth between his
In the midst of the Civil war a man is being sentenced to death. The man was easily convinced by a northern spy that he was “sothern”, and that the southerns needed help at Owl Creek bridge. The man goes to Owl Creek bridge where he wants to help the south but unfortunately the north apprehends him easily. He is going to be hung by the North for trying to assist the South. The Mans name is Peyton farquhar and his house is but 30 miles from Owl Creek bridge(the place where he is being hung). As he
successful way of describing what the author wants to establish, and each successful way draws the perfect conclusion of what he wants to have for why he wrote the story to begin with. The author begins the story with the start of the end of Peyton Farquhar’s life. He writes about how Farquhar “stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama” while having a rope around his neck and hands
Time is malleable, as it can be stretched or compressed, especially when considered in literature. Just as the idea itself is a man-made construct, authors are able to utilize a given interval to their advantage, seemingly bending reality. Yet simultaneously, these jumps or limitations in time enhance the humanity of any given passage. They do this by commenting on the fact that the conscious does lose grasp of its surroundings and is able to process at an accelerated rate. For this, Realism writers