A Possible Escape Artist: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce In the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, the author utilizes “tricks” to the reader’s mind in order to maintain foreshadowing and portray what the average human mind endures before he or she dies. The reader is given clues throughout the story that point to the imagination of what Mr. Farquhar wants to happen before he is dropped to his death. First of all, what is up with the title? Someone is about to be executed for a crime, and the word occurrence is just too casual. Why could not the word murder, execution, or lynching be used? We do not know for sure, but what we do know is that the title plays a vast role in the plot of
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Bierce employs extreme detail, meaning he gets down to every millimeter of detail to describe what it happening. For example, in a short story with normal detail an author may describe a soldier in uniform holding a gun, but what does Bierce do instead? This detail is just simply is not enough for his writing style. To fulfill his style, Bierce does not just say a solider is holding a gun. He goes on to say that “the rifle was in position vertical on the left shoulder with the hammer resting on the forearm across the chest.” Now, that is some excruciating detail! The readers do not just see this detail with people, however. As Mr. Farquhar is running to his “escape,” he notices things that he has never paid attention to before. For example, there are things in this world just too small for us to get a gratifying look at. One of these things happens to be a green caterpillar crawling around on a leaf. Who would take the time to pay attention to that, or even try to find such a tiny creature? When someone breaks away from death, every puny thing is going to stick out like a sore thumb, and Bierce makes sure that every detail sticks
Bierce employs extreme detail, meaning he gets down to every millimeter of detail to describe what it happening. For example, in a short story with normal detail an author may describe a soldier in uniform holding a gun, but what does Bierce do instead? This detail is just simply is not enough for his writing style. To fulfill his style, Bierce does not just say a solider is holding a gun. He goes on to say that “the rifle was in position vertical on the left shoulder with the hammer resting on the forearm across the chest.” Now, that is some excruciating detail! The readers do not just see this detail with people, however. As Mr. Farquhar is running to his “escape,” he notices things that he has never paid attention to before. For example, there are things in this world just too small for us to get a gratifying look at. One of these things happens to be a green caterpillar crawling around on a leaf. Who would take the time to pay attention to that, or even try to find such a tiny creature? When someone breaks away from death, every puny thing is going to stick out like a sore thumb, and Bierce makes sure that every detail sticks