Comparing An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge To Young Goodman Brown Essay

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Young Goodman Brown are two stories about men going through journeys, symbolism and have trouble with reality. In Young Goodman Brown he goes through a journey of good and evil, but after reading the story, there is a problem with reality and what truly happened. At the end of the story it felt like Goodman Brown woke up from a dream that felt so real he didnt trust anyone anymore. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is also journey between imaging what is happening and what is real. Peyton Farquhar jumped in and out of reality in the story, he imagined escaping and getting back to his family. He imagined different realities, as the hanging started there was a pause in his mind that took him to a different place, but in the end reality became true and he died.

Young Goodman Brown is a story of a man that goes on a journey into the forest for one night. In this journey Goodman Brown is faced to stand upon good and evil. In the beginning he has an arranged meet with a man with walking serpent stick, which looks like the snake is moving and is tempted to use with the devil but turns it down for his wife that is at home waiting for him. After being asked to turn to the devil with harsh truths about his father and grandfather, he also learns that there are some of his church members that are evil. When turning down all the attempts of evil, Goodman Brown rests when he hears his wife, Faith with the other members and he sees her pink ribbons falling from a tree, and he knows there isnt anything good in the world. He decides to use the walking stick to get to faith. After seeing everyone who turned, the next morning came and he was not able to trust anyone again and he dies alone.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is about a man named Peyton Farquhar, a secessionist from an Alabama family who is about to be hung by the federal army. The author starts the story by describing how the man is standing on the bridge, his description, and where the army surrounds a railroad. The federal army is waiting to give orders for the hanging. As Peyton Farquhar awaits his death, he starts to think of his family, an escape route, and all the distractions around him. When the order was called and the noose was beginning the hang, the author pauses the moment in Peytons mind and he imagines that the noose breaks. When the noose breaks he lands in the water, after he gets free he runs into the forest to get to his family. When he finally reaches his wife reality comes back and his neck breaks.

The symbolism in both stories, I think point out the different paths for them. In Young Goodman Brown, the serpent stick is the path of evil. After he uses the path it leads him toward a different journey, which alters his judgments and his truths. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton Farquhar starts to picture a different journey when he sees a piece of drift wood floating in the river, which leads him towards a different path or to imagine a different outcome that he is in.