In Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

A detachment of one’s surrounding and substituting it by a visionary fantasy, usually happens because like most people The main character wishes for fulfillment that he does not have in his life. In Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton Farquhar is struggling between the life he has and what he wants. The events taken place come from dire need to show himself and others how loyal he is to the southern cause during the Civil War. For this response he puts himself in a troubling situation. But what could have really brought him into his own death? In the story he is described as a common man such like “...He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter”(Ambrose 1), from reading this line one can assume he’s had a very American life. A family to look after and his civilian duties as a man during the 1860s was what expected of him. So if a northerner saw his apparent wrongdoings, they’d accuse Peyton of being a traitor or an enemy. His appearance would normally trick anyone who didn't know any better of his siding with the south. …show more content…
Peyton decides to approach the man about the stockade built at Owl Creek bridge. “Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel,” said Farquhar, smiling, “what could he accomplish?””(Ambrose 3) From this point and on we can get the sense Peyton has already been planning to aid in service for the south. In which he has no shame in doing anything he can to help. Little does Peyton know is the soldier he just talked to was an undercover Federal scout. This puts his words engraved into the scouts mind, who is ready to report to his Sergeant about a possible