Ambrose Bierce

Victoria Culpepper, in her essay “Realism and Romanticism in ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’”, explores how Ambrose Bierce reflects the literary change from Romanticism to Realism in his short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Culpepper argues that Bierce’s use of literary devices such as structure, perception, irony, and symbolism come together to illustrate the ways in which Romanticism and Realism complement and contrast. The essay follows a simple structure, exploring each of…

necessary part of progress, but the cruel reality of war only brings death and ruin. The narrator is not named in the story but is a boy who is merely six years of age. This young boy becomes an unfortunate victim to the disaster that is war. In Ambrose Bierce’s short story, Chickamauga, the young boy’s childlike innocence in the beginning is proof that war changes people and forces them to grow up, often to become something and someone that they would not have otherwise. Imagination is an…

The short stories “Chickamauga” written by Ambrose Bierce and “The Covenant” written by Crystal Arbogast both show the effects that post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) has on someone. The effect war has on someone is very traumatic it can mentally and physically scar a person, but what can be harder is when your a child having to deal with someone who has been through war trying to live with it. PTSD effects family, sleeping patterns, causes small bursts of spaz attacks, and detachment issues…

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.…

Bierce grew up in Meigs County, Ohio (a free state), which is approximately 30 miles away from present day West Virginia (which was part of confederate Virginia during the American Civil War); similarly, the plantation that Farquhar was working on was about 30 miles from Owl Creek Bridge, so the proximity of a Confederate sympathizer to a Union foothold needing to be rebuilt was probably something Bierce witnessed in his early years. In addition to this…

In the story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce uses sensory details and similes to build a mood and suspense throughout the story. In the…

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…

results in death in the end. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, Bierce communicates the idea that war brings only death and anguish by utilizing literary devices in order to convey this theme. Bierce particularly uses irony and similes in order to convey the message that war does not yield glory. Instead, he employs these literary devices in order to reveal that war is nothing but an agent of death. Bierce uses irony and similes in order to convey the theme that war brings…

Plot Manipulation in Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” In Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the author deftly manipulates the plot in order to suspend the reader’s disbelief and to keep the reader engaged in the story. The reader, along with what might be described as the soul of Peyton Farquhar (a man hanged by soldiers), is led to believe that Farquhar survives the plunge off of Owl Creek Bridge and the subsequent tightening of the noose. However,…

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce, proposes the idea that human individuals have no control over their lives, and even solace found in the imagination is limited by their helpless reality. Bierce, through fighting amidst the horrors of the Civil War, developed a pessimistic disposition towards humanity. Being a local color writer, Bierce depicts his scenes with the utmost attention to detail, and structures his short story around specific settings that he uses to allegorize…