Permanente Creek

will one day end. That truth is perhaps the defining feature of the human condition. Mortality is inevitable act, so we can either accept it, or continue to deny the coming day of our own deaths. In Ambrose Bierce’s short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the principal character, Peyton Farquhar, experiences both the denial and acceptance of his impending death. Farquhar is sentenced to be hanged by Union soldiers and as he faces his final moments, imagines his escape back to his…

case for Peyton Farquhar, who is being slowly hanged at Owl Creek Bridge in northern Alabama by soldiers of the Civil War, although no one knows exactly why. The suspense continues to build throughout most of the story, which eventually leads to death. Eventually, Farquhar makes a great escape from the major conflict, which ends abruptly while he does realize that he is imagining and escaping reality. In the story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce uses sensory details and…

I have chosen to write about the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. The place in question is a large, modern building. Its exterior has a looming presence, as though it were a stadium or a shopping mall rather than a church. The abundance of entrances and sections make the church a difficult place to navigate. Each entrance has its own parking lot, leading to a separate wing of the structure. Surrounding the building is a beautiful landscape, with lawns, pathways, and…

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…

“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…