“Fear is an extraordinary thing. Most of us are afraid of something or another. Fear creates illusion; fear makes us suspicious, arrogant; fear makes us seek all kinds of refuge…” (The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, (1962-1963): A Psychological Revolution). Fear drives people to search for sanctuary, causes them to yearn for an interlude of peace. In Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge”, fear of an imminent death warps time and reality, providing a false sense of hope as a distraction from reality.
Peyton Farquhar feels death’s unsettling fear develop as he stands upon the plank, noose wrapped around his neck, eyes closed “in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and kids”, coming to the realization of the cost of martyrdom and what will vanish when death arrives to take him. A sharp noise like a knife striking metal tears Peyton away from his thoughts, each stroke drawn out longer than the last. Each elongated moment of silence leads Peyton to anxiety, “He awaited each stroke with impatience”, not sure which will be the last. The calm, analytical mindset we see in the beginning of the story crumbles when Peyton’s mind wanders to the hopeful idea of believing he could “free his hands” and “throw off the noose, escaping to the river”. Peyton’s escape plan is a daydream, where he can …show more content…
They were indeed preternaturally keen.” The escape plan Peyton had envisioned miraculously came through, escaping the bridge and falling into the water. After his getaway, brushing the shoulder of death, Peyton’s perspective has shifted, creating bright and vivid detail in his life. . A wave of relief washed over Peyton as he dug his fingers into the sand, reaching land and escaping the bridge and his death. The relief felt as the journey home comes to an end gave him a sense of floating, “He could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet.”, distracting his mind from the previous events on the
Peyton Farquhar feels death’s unsettling fear develop as he stands upon the plank, noose wrapped around his neck, eyes closed “in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and kids”, coming to the realization of the cost of martyrdom and what will vanish when death arrives to take him. A sharp noise like a knife striking metal tears Peyton away from his thoughts, each stroke drawn out longer than the last. Each elongated moment of silence leads Peyton to anxiety, “He awaited each stroke with impatience”, not sure which will be the last. The calm, analytical mindset we see in the beginning of the story crumbles when Peyton’s mind wanders to the hopeful idea of believing he could “free his hands” and “throw off the noose, escaping to the river”. Peyton’s escape plan is a daydream, where he can …show more content…
They were indeed preternaturally keen.” The escape plan Peyton had envisioned miraculously came through, escaping the bridge and falling into the water. After his getaway, brushing the shoulder of death, Peyton’s perspective has shifted, creating bright and vivid detail in his life. . A wave of relief washed over Peyton as he dug his fingers into the sand, reaching land and escaping the bridge and his death. The relief felt as the journey home comes to an end gave him a sense of floating, “He could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet.”, distracting his mind from the previous events on the