An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Theme Analysis

In Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the reader is introduced to a man who is about to be hanged. Throughout the short story, there are multiple themes proposed from beginning to end. One leading theme is suspense. The story switches between reality and imagination, which creates even more suspense right before Farquhar is about to be hanged. Another major theme placed throughout the short story is imagination. Farquhar imagines certain events before the time of his death. One of them is seeing his family so that he can think of happy thoughts and remember memories before he is executed. In addition, there are two other major themes in this story: death and waiting. These represent how Farquhar has ended his suffering and how he has been waiting for this moment. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Bierce creates suspense by using the main character’s …show more content…
This tragedy comes from being in a psychological battle with one’s self. The combinations of these four themes bring to life the reality of Farquhar’s existence. Death, time, and imagination help to build the suspense of Bierce’s writing throughout the story. The switching back and forth between reality and imagination helps to intensify the future plot of Farquhar’s death. Through imagery, the reader can see Farquhar’s world and feel his love of family and pain of death. Internally, Farquhar is longing for happiness with his family in his last moments of life. The sense of pain felt within the story is due to the anguish Bierce implies through Farquhar’s emotions. Bierce’s ability to interweave together these four themes is evident in his style of writing. One can see through the emotions in the story that Bierce expresses the betrayal and hurt Farquhar has experienced. Bierce uses time, death, imagination, and suspense to capture his readers and their feelings through Farquhar’s numerous