An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce This short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce features a middle-aged husband and father who fights dearly for his life. Peyton Farquhar was a slave owner, who was naturally devoted to the southern cause. After getting into trouble with the northern authorities, partially due to his recklessness, he is sentenced to be plunged to his death; he will be hanged, but narrowly escapes…or does he? No, in my opinion, this foolhardy man just so happens to be a dead man.
In section one; Peyton Farquhar is a prisoner of Northern forces. He is standing on a plank, with a noose tied snugly around his neck, and is being held up by nothing but an officer, while Peyton is waiting to be hanged. Time is going by extremely slowly; therefore all the usual sounds are being emphasized and noticed by Peyton. He even hears a usually unnoticed, yet common sound. “Striking through the thoughts of his dear ones, was a sound…a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion…What he heard was the ticking of his watch,” (Bierce 38). The officer who is literally standing on a plank, prolonging Farquhar’s life is given permission to step aside and let Farquhar fall to his sudden, painful death. “The sergeant stepped aside” (Bierce 38). Jumping to section three, Peyton Farquhar is portrayed to be eluding the Northern forces, by swimming and diving low in the rather cold water. He is being followed through scopes, as well as being shot at, after his noose has “snapped”. He manages to elude the northern forces, and finds his way home, to his wife, who looks so lovely in a flowing white dress, prancing to come kiss her husband on the cheek. At the end of this final section, there is one sentence that ever so clearly states the condition of this man. “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of Owl Creek bridge” (Bierce 45). There should be absolutely no doubt as to his fate, he is a dead man.
The author, Ambrose Bierce, in my opinion has chosen to include some clever literary tactics to create a sense of suspense for the reader, along with a peek at what one may think of, moments before your final ones. I believe, ever-so-strongly, that from the time his noose was “broken,” to the time he goes to give his wife a hug, these are thoughts that are running through his mind in a split-second before death has fallen upon him. One clear detail to reveal what Peyton Farquhar was most likely going through in his final moments was that he always saw lights. He was seeing the light, and as he was “sinking” to the bottom of the creek, the light was continuously diminishing. To me, that was the moment when his life was ended. His whole situation when he is eluding the firing gunshots of the Northern authorities was just a dark moment, a moment between his leaving the real life, and entering the “after-life”, whatever one’s definition of this may be.
In my opinion, I believe that Peyton Farquhar received what he truly deserved. He and his wife strongly believed in the Southern cause, which was really just a way to be cruel to those whom they thought to be less distinguished than they were. Those who suffered from the Southern cause were mistreated, misjudged and were not given a fair chance to make a normal living. In a sense, I think
