An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Analysis

The only definite thing in life is that it will one day end. That truth is perhaps the defining feature of the human condition. Mortality is inevitable act, so we can either accept it, or continue to deny the coming day of our own deaths. In Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the principal character, Peyton Farquhar, experiences both the denial and acceptance of his impending death. Farquhar is sentenced to be hanged by Union soldiers and as he faces his final moments, imagines his escape back to his family. {The simple truth that death is inevitable despite the denial of it is developed through the use of figurative language, foreshadowing and } Time, it seems, is not on Farquhar's side. Bierce depicts Peyton’s lack of control over time and death through uses of similes and metaphors. Peyton is out of time when the story begins, his …show more content…
As Peyton was supposedly escaping from his captors, he noticed things that the average person wouldn’t see or hear, especially, if their main focus is to escape. Peyton was "in full possession of his physical senses…they were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert." (4) Peyton also paid great attention to detail. “He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck…looked at the forest…saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--saw the very insects upon them...[and] noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass.” (4) The average person escaping death by Union soldiers would not waste time inspecting the details around them, however, Peyton does. This is simply because he isn’t truly escaping, he’s imagining his escape which allows him time to visualize the features around him. While this doesn’t foreshadow his impending death, it does foreshadow the revelation that his escape was merely a