Owl Creek Bridge Autonomy

The various Civil War stories of Ambrose Bierce look at autonomy from two perspectives supported or suppressed. In two of Bierce’s stories “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Horseman in the Sky”, both suppressed autonomy. Autonomy affected the characters in some sort of death or loss of a loved one. In one of Bierce’s stories “Occurrence at Owl Creek bridge” it starts off with a man stood upon a railroad bridge ,looking down twenty feet below above water. His wrists were tied together by rope ,his neck had rope around his neck in a noose like way. This shows autonomy was suppressed. Because of this man's actions, he was hung for being a traitor working for the South then caught. The second story “Horseman in the Sky” takes place in Virginia …show more content…
He first shown on a bridge with a noose ready to be hung “The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck” (Bierce 1). Awaiting for the captains signal ,he just stands there with his eyes closed of his last thoughts thinking of his wife and children. Peyton’s autonomy is no more because he did a traitorous act against Union by helping the south. In the story there, is a flashback that tells us that Peyton is a very successful plantation owner, is a strong supporter of the south and tried to join the army for the Confederates. Even though he couldn't join the Confederate army, he still supports the Confederates in the war effort. One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. His wife accepted his remark and left to get him some water, her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the …show more content…
After the soldier has left an hour later nightfall begin to approach. He passed the plantation, going northward in the direction which he had came. He was a Federal Scout for the North in disguise that looked like he was with the South. The dialogue of the flashback had finished, “As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge, he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. From this state he was awakened ages later, it seemed to him by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat ,followed by a sense of suffocation” (Bierce 3) death from the suffocation made him imagine that the rope would of snap, and he would of swim away to his wife at the gates of his house, leading him to be away to heaven. That lead to his autonomy being suppressed because of his death. This is the first story that Ambrose Bierce story leads to autonomy being