Overview of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Essay

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, 743 words

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was written by Bierce. The narrator begins the story about a condemned man on a railroad bridge located in the north area of Alabama. The man is placed in a scenario where everything is ready to hang him. A loose rope encircles his neck, and his wrists bind with a cord at his back. He is a planter, and he is about thirty-five years old. The condemned man stays on a plank that is located on the bridge. This plank is held in place by the weight of the sergeant and the condemned man. When the captain sends the signal, the sergeant will leave the plank and the condemned man will die. The captain gives the signal with his head, and the sergeant steps aside. Then, the condemned man remains suspending from the neck with the rope. Peyton Farquhar, the condemned man, began to die by hanging, but soon the rope is broken, so he drops into the water. Also, he frees his hand from the cord, so he achieves his head emerges to the surface of the water. While Farquhar is taking conscious of that place, he hears the cruel words aim fire. Immediately, Farquhar dives deeply and leaves the soldiers away. He goes to the surface again, and he continues swimming with the current. Suddenly, a vortex caught him, and he is thrown at the foot of the bank of the stream. After he feels fatigued, he keeps walking in the interminable forest. At last, he finds a clue to go home. He walks the entire night and finally gets home. He enters his home, and his wife is waiting for him. At that point, everything stops and becomes darkness and silence for him. The last one shows that it has only been his imagination since the rope was broken. He has just died when his imagination stops. My reaction to what I have just read is that although the narrator explains the settings with reality at the beginning, this story changes an idealistic view since the rope is broken, but it remains clear at the last paragraph when the narrator explains Farquhar died hanged in the bridge.

In the first paragraph, the narrator shows the settings on a railroad bridge in the north area of Alabama. Also I can have a picture in my mind of the condemned man, the sergeant, the captain, and two sentinels. Farquhar stays with a loose rope encircled in his neck, and his wrist bind with a cord in the center of the bridge. The sergeant looks like a sheriff in the real world. The two sentinels placed at each end of the bridge maintain an attitude with no interest to know what is happening at the center of the bridge with the condemned man. Those sentinels have the responsibility to block both sides of the bridge if someone wants to cross through the bridge. They hold a position known in the military life like a support. The preparations of the settings are being completed, and the condemned man is waiting with impatience the signal to be hanged. He looks nervous and pays attention to everything around him. He closes his eyes trying to change his fate. Those moments seem to be longer to him. Suddenly, he thinks that he has an option to escape if he frees his hands. In the hour of the death, the instinct of conservation of life of human beings makes to see that we can save our life. The previous explanation makes to see that settings show reality in that story. However, the following makes to see the story like an idealistic view when a group of soldiers let the condemned man escapes. The story changes a no real when the rope is broken. At this moment, Farquhar drops, dives, and escapes. Although soldiers shot him, he gets to escape. The narrator also explains that the condemned man falls asleep, while he is walking toward his house. Here, the narrator says for now he sees another scene-perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. There is a clue that Farquhar is not living in the real world. The place, where the main character acts, continues being fabulous, but it does not go well with the plot. At the end, it is clear that Farquhar was death.