an occurrence at owl creek bridge essay

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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Home › Literature › Analysis of Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Analysis of Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on June 2, 2021

This classic story, first published in Ambrose Bierce ’s short story collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, continues to intrigue new generations of readers. Although set during the civil war, it is notable not for the combat scenes that other Bierce stories portray but for the ingenious blending of realism and fantasy that inevitably leads to the surprise ending. Although some readers protest that Bierce uses this ending to trick them, most agree that, to the contrary, the author includes ample cues for the attentive reader to see that the condemned protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, escapes the reality of death only in his imagination.

The structure of the story is crucial to its effects: It opens as Farquhar, a Southern noncombatant, stands on the platform above Owl Creek Bridge while the Union soldiers enact the ritual of the military hanging. Thinking of ways to escape, Farquhar imagines he can free his hands. In a flashback, we learn that Farquhar, a happily married planter and ardent supporter of the “Southern cause” (194), was tricked by a federal scout disguised as a Confederate: Eager to help his compatriots, Farquhar attempted to burn Owl Creek Bridge and was immediately captured by the Yankees, who lay in wait for him. With this information that humanizes Farquhar, we return to the present with him, mentally cheering him on as he plummets from the bridge, and appears to escape his bonds, swim the river, and head through the forest toward home, children, and his beautiful wife, who awaits him on the verandah. In fact, the escape occurs in Farquhar’s imagination as he resists death, which, fi nally, is the inevitable reality common to us all.

Analysis of Ambrose Bierce’s Chickamauga

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bierce, Ambrose. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” In American Short Stories. 6th ed. Edited by Eugene Current-García and Bert Hitchcock. New York: Longman, 1997.

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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Ambrose bierce, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Confinement and Escape

Peyton Farquhar , the protagonist of Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” experiences a kind of “round trip” from imprisonment to freedom and back to imprisonment. Farquhar is captured and condemned to death for attempting to sabotage a Union stockade, yet just before his execution appears to experience a miraculous escape and rushes to return to his family , Union soldiers firing at him in his wake. Just when he appears…

Life and Death

In one sense, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is an examination of the line between life and death, and at times, how the latter can heighten and enhance the former. The bulk of the story takes place in the instant of Farquhar ’s death: a kind of waking dream in which he envisions a flight back to his home and family before death finally claims him. The famous “twist” ending—in which his escape from…

The Civil War

The story takes place in the Deep South—Alabama—at some indeterminate point in the middle of the Civil War. Though it largely focuses on Farquhar ’s experience of his own death, that death comes about as a direct result of his participation in the Confederate cause. He’s a local, for starters, and a slave owner as well. Bierce doesn’t delve deeply into the moral implications of Farquhar’s position but makes it clear that such a position…

Perception and Reality

In the moments before his death, Farquhar believes he is escaping from his Union captors—that the rope intended to hang him breaks—and that he takes a long and desperate journey home. But his journey is strange and surreal, reflecting both a series of hyper-intense observations about the world around him and details which suggest he might not even be on Earth anymore, but rather in some strange alternate dimension. Of course, that perception proves to…

The Haunting Legacy of Owl Creek Bridge: a Study of Ambrose Bierce’s Masterpiece

This essay about Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” examines the story’s narrative structure, psychological depth, and themes. It explores how Bierce blends reality and illusion through the tale of Peyton Farquhar, a man condemned to hang during the Civil War. The essay highlights the story’s non-linear narrative and the intense, vivid descriptions that make Farquhar’s escape seem real. It also discusses the psychological aspects and the tragic twist ending, emphasizing themes of hope, despair, and the brutality of war. Symbolism, such as the bridge representing the boundary between life and death, is also analyzed.

How it works

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” stands as one of the most compelling and frequently analyzed works in American literature. First published in 1890, this short story has captivated readers with its intricate narrative structure, psychological depth, and poignant themes. Bierce’s tale, set during the American Civil War, explores the final moments of a man named Peyton Farquhar, who is condemned to be hanged by Union soldiers for attempting to sabotage Owl Creek Bridge. The story’s brilliance lies in its seamless blending of reality and illusion, creating a narrative that is both gripping and profoundly moving.

Bierce masterfully constructs the story through a non-linear narrative that keeps readers engrossed from start to finish. The tale begins with Farquhar standing on a railroad bridge, his hands bound and a noose around his neck. In a remarkable narrative twist, as Farquhar is dropped from the bridge, the rope miraculously breaks, and he plunges into the water below. What follows is an intense and vivid description of his desperate escape, as he evades bullets and struggles against the currents to reach his home and family. Bierce’s detailed and immersive descriptions make the reader feel as though they are alongside Farquhar, experiencing his harrowing journey firsthand.

The psychological depth of the story is where Bierce’s genius truly shines. As Farquhar’s journey progresses, the line between reality and illusion becomes increasingly blurred. Bierce delves into Farquhar’s mind, capturing his heightened senses and overwhelming emotions. The vividness of Farquhar’s perceptions, from the sensation of the water to the colors of the forest, adds a dreamlike quality to the narrative. This heightened state of awareness, coupled with Farquhar’s intense desire to survive and return to his family, creates a powerful sense of urgency and tension.

However, the story takes a poignant and tragic turn with its shocking conclusion. Just as Farquhar seems to have reached safety and is about to embrace his wife, the narrative abruptly shifts back to the moment of his hanging, revealing that his escape was merely a hallucination in the final moments before his death. This twist ending forces readers to reconsider everything they have just read, highlighting the thin line between reality and illusion and underscoring the themes of hope and despair. Bierce’s portrayal of Farquhar’s final thoughts serves as a poignant commentary on the human capacity for hope and the tragic nature of unfulfilled dreams.

The thematic richness of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” extends beyond its narrative structure and psychological complexity. The story is also a powerful meditation on the brutality of war and the fleeting nature of life. Bierce, a Civil War veteran himself, infuses the narrative with a sense of authenticity and a deep understanding of the human cost of conflict. Farquhar’s longing for his family and his desperate bid for freedom reflect the broader human desire for connection and meaning, even in the face of death. The story’s setting, a seemingly ordinary bridge transformed into a site of profound human drama, underscores the idea that significant and life-changing events can occur in the most unexpected places.

Moreover, Bierce’s use of symbolism enriches the story’s thematic depth. The bridge itself serves as a powerful symbol of transition and liminality, representing the boundary between life and death, reality and illusion. Farquhar’s fall from the bridge and his imagined escape can be seen as a metaphor for the struggle to find meaning and agency in a world marked by chaos and uncertainty. The story’s abrupt and tragic ending serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of human life and the often arbitrary nature of fate.

In conclusion, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” remains a masterful work of American literature, notable for its innovative narrative structure, psychological insight, and profound themes. Ambrose Bierce’s tale of Peyton Farquhar’s final moments is a haunting exploration of reality, illusion, and the human condition. Through its vivid descriptions, psychological depth, and symbolic richness, the story continues to resonate with readers, offering a poignant meditation on the nature of hope, despair, and the enduring impact of war. Bierce’s legacy as a writer is firmly cemented by this powerful and timeless narrative, which continues to captivate and inspire generations of readers. Remember, this essay is a starting point for inspiration and further research. For more personalized assistance and to ensure your essay meets all academic standards, consider reaching out to professionals at EduBirdie .

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Essays on An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Brief description of an occurrence at owl creek bridge.

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge is a short story written by Ambrose Bierce, which explores the themes of death, reality, and the perception of time. It tells the story of a man about to be hanged during the Civil War and his desperate attempt to escape. The story is renowned for its use of narrative structure and psychological insight.

Importance of Writing Essays on This Topic

Essays on An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge are important for both academic and personal exploration as they allow students to critically analyze the themes, symbolism, and narrative techniques used in the story. Furthermore, writing about this topic encourages a deeper understanding of historical context and the human experience during times of war and adversity.

Tips on Choosing a Good Topic

• Consider exploring the themes of reality and illusion in the story
• Analyze the use of symbolism and imagery in An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
• Examine the psychological effects of war and imminent death on the protagonist

Essay Topics

• The theme of time and its perception in An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
• The use of foreshadowing and suspense in the story
• How the Civil War setting influences the story's themes
• The symbolism of nature in the protagonist's escape
• Reality vs. illusion: A psychological analysis of the protagonist's experience
• The role of fear and desperation in shaping the protagonist's actions
• An exploration of the story's narrative structure and its impact on the reader
• The impact of war on the human psyche as depicted in the story
• A comparative analysis of An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge with other war-themed literature
• The societal and cultural influences on the story's themes and characters

Concluding Thought

Writing essays on An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge offers a unique opportunity to delve into the complexities of human experience, war, and the nature of reality. By critically engaging with this timeless story, students can develop a deeper understanding of literary analysis and historical context. Explore the depths of this captivating narrative through the art of essay writing.

Owl Creek Bridge Figurative Language

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The Concept of Illusion Versus Reality in Ambrose Bierce’s an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

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Experiences of Illusions in an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, a Short Story by Ambrose Bierce

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Imagery Discussion: The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

An occurrence at owl creek bridge: a study in psychological realism.

Ambrose Bierce

Short story

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Suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Essay

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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/.

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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Peyton Farquhar : Southern plantation owner who is to be hanged by Union soldiers as punishment for his attempt (or suspected attempt) to destroy Owl Creek Bridge.  Mrs. Farquhar : Farquhar's wife. Union Soldiers : They include executioners, sentinels, and overseeing officers on the bridge and a company of soldiers along the shore of Owl Creek.  Union Scout : Soldier who wears Confederate gray when he rides onto Farquhar's plantation (in a flashback) and asks for a drink of water. 

The action takes place at a railroad bridge in northern Alabama during the U.S. Civil War, not long after the Battle of Corinth in northern Mississippi on October 3 and 4, 1862. The bridge runs north-south over Owl Creek. (See Grant's Reference , below.) On one side of the creek is thick forest. On the other is a company of Union soldiers. A cannon pokes from a line of trees the soldiers are using as a stockade. On the bridge are other Union soldiers preparing to execute a man with a rope around his neck. 

Time of Day

The story begins early in the morning, as disclosed by the boldfaced words in the following passage in Part I:

Point of View

Bierce tells "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in three parts. Part I is in objective third-person point of view except for the last three paragraphs. In objective third-person narration, the storyteller observes events but cannot enter the mind of any character and disclose his or her thoughts. In the last three paragraphs of the Part I, the narration shifts to omniscient (all-knowing) third-person point of view in relation to Peyton Farquhar. This shift enables Bierce to take the reader inside Farquhar's mind to demonstrate how emotional upheaval alters not only the way the mind interprets reality but also the way it perceives the passage of time. First, Farquhar mistakes the ticking of his watch for the tolling of a bell or the ring of an anvil struck by a hammer. Then, after Farquhar drops from the bridge at the moment of execution, he perceives a single second as lasting hours. In presenting his psychological study, Bierce could not have used first-person point of view. Here is why:

• Farquhar dies at the end of the story. Obviously, dead men can tell no tales.  
• If a Union soldier had told the tale in the first-person "I" and "me," he could not have entered Farquhar's mind. He could report only what he saw or heard.  
• If Farquhar had revealed his thoughts to a first-person narrator, the pace, suspense, and immediacy of the action would have been lost.    

After the Battle of Shiloh (southern Tennessee, April 1862), General Ulysses S. Grant marched his Union forces south into Mississippi on his way to Vicksburg, a strategically important Mississippi River city. At Corinth – a northeastern Mississippi town just south of the Tennessee border and just east of the Alabama border – Grant and General William Starke Rosecrans repulsed a Confederate attack while solidifying control of the town, an important railroad center. In Chapter 26 of his memoirs of 1885 and 1886, Grant refers to Corinth and Owl Creek. (In his short story, Bierce also refers to the Battle of Corinth – and, of course, to Owl Creek.) Here is the passage written by Grant:

Type of Work and Years of Publication

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a short story that observes the classical unities–that is, it takes place in a single location on a single day while focusing on a single subject. There are no subplots. Although the story is fiction, it is based on real events during the U.S. Civil War. The story first appeared in the San Francisco Examiner in 1890, then appeared in 1891 in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians , a collection of Ambrose Bierce’s stories. 

Foreshadowing

The narrator of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” tells the reader that Peyton Farquhar escapes death after the rope around his neck snaps at the bottom of his fall from the bridge. Farquhar then swims to shore, under heavy gunfire, and makes his way home, by nightfall, through the wilds. However, the narrator reveals at the end of the story that Farquhar's escape is a dream that lasts only from the moment he drops from the bridge to the moment the rope breaks his neck at the end of his fall. To prepare the reader for the expansion of the single second it takes for Farquhar to die into a day-long event, author Bierce presents the following passage in which time begins to pass more slowly. 

How Human Beings Deny Reality to Protect Themselves

On the personal and specific level, plantation owner Peyton Farquhar denies reality as a means of forestalling it. First, he lapses into a delusionary dream in which he escapes death after the weight of his body snaps the hangman's rope. Then he swims to safety under heavy gunfire and returns to his plantation. This dream lasts only a second, but Farquhar's mind turns it into an hours-long flight from the enemy – and reality. On the impersonal and general level, the slaveholding South – represented by Farquhar – refuses to accept the reality that slavery is a barbarous institution. 

Peyton Farquhar's livelihood depended on holding black men, women, and children in bondage. Ironically, Farquhar ends up in bondage, with a noose around his neck and cords around his wrists. Bondage is terrifying, Farquhar discovers, and all of the last thoughts of his life center on escaping it. 

The following passages from "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" appear to allude to slavery. 

• Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands (Part II, Paragraph 2).
• 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. (Part III, Paragraph 19).
• He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it (Part III, Paragraph 20).

There are also direct references to slavery in the short story, such as the second sentence in Part II: "Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause." 

Greek Mythology

In Part III, Paragraph 16, the narrator alludes to Aeolus, the god of the winds in Greek mythology, saying, "A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of Æolian harps ."  

Bierce's story relies heavily on imagery centering on sight and sound to vivify his tale. Following are examples of sound imagery. Figures of speech appear in colored type.

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. ( Simile )

An appalling plash 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! ( Onomatopoeia )

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. ( Personification/Metaphor ) ( Onomatopoeia )

A whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches h igh above h is h ead roused h im from h is dream. ( Onomatopoeia ) ( Alliteration )

Peyton Farquhar experiences a dream within a dream, as noted in the first sentence of Paragraph 17: "A whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream." Up to this point in the story, Farquhar was already dreaming that he had escaped the Union forces. But after reaching the shore in his first dream, he lapses into another dream, a daydream, in which he becomes entranced with the beauty of nature and the joy of freedom. Is it possible to experience a dream within a dream? Edgar Allan Poe wrote a poem entitled "A Dream Within a Dream

A Dream Within A Dream By Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream? 

Study-Guide Reader Presents His Interpretation

....... Gregory Hazzard, a reader of this study guide, has offered the following additional observations about Farquhar’s end-of-life experience:  ....... When Farquhar returns in his dream to a world he recognizes, it is from a perspective in which blacks welcome him home along the path to his sanctuary. This is the perspective from which Farquhar feels safe and comfortable. Since he doesn’t know the slaves on a human level, his mind relates to them as trees. The black tree “bodies” and black people are equal objects in his natural environment. The best his mind can offer in the dream is an outline of colored bodies.  ....... This illusion is reinforced in that the welcoming he would ordinarily receive as a slaveholding plantation owner is a parallel of the welcoming he receives in his dream. That is, it is a dream life within a dream life. Because of the way things work in his society, his life as the owner of a plantation and slaves is better than that of other human beings. He ignores the concept that his slaves are not necessarily lined up lovingly and respectfully to welcome him to his sanctuary. He ignores that scouts in an underground system of freedom fighters stand ready to summarily convict him for his crimes against freedom.

Study Questions and Essay Topics

• Do you sympathize with Farquhar? Explain your answer.  
• Read a short biography of author Bierce. Then explain to what extent Bierce drew upon his own experiences when he wrote "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."
• Did the Union forces have a right to hang Farquhar without first trying him in a court of law?
• Write and essay that compares and contrasts "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" with Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." ( Click here for the Poe study guide .) Point out the similarities and differences in the methods the authors use to tell their stories. 
• Write an essay that comments on the impact of the sight and sound imagery in the story. Click here for background information .
• Bierce tells almost all of the story in the past tense. However, he writes Sentences 2 through 8 of the second-to-last paragraph of the story in the present tense. Why?
• The last sentence of Part III, Paragraph 19, states: "The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which – once, twice, and again – he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue." Are these the voices of slaves, whose subhuman existence he could never understand because it was like a foreign language to him? Or do the voices represent someone, or something, else?
• Bierce points out in his narration that the Owl Creek bridge runs from north to south (or from south to north). Since Peyton Farquhar, a slaveowner, is to be hanged from the bridge, does it thus symbolize the central issue dividing the North and the South? 
• Were there antislavery movements in the South? Were there proslavery movements in the North? Write an essay that informs the reader about both questions.

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge A Study in Psychological Realism