An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

by Ambrose Bierce

Dies right before ww1 and he is a

vet before the civil war

Ambrose Bierce
1842-1914

Life
Born in Ohio, raised in Indiana
Fought with the Union in the Civil War, saw the entire country from the Atlantic
to the Pacific while serving in the military.
Became a noted journalist, literary critic, and fiction writer
Steven crane

Works
Best known for The Devils Dictionary, a book that reinterprets the English
language, mocking political double-talk and popular euphemisms of the day
Known for his pure English and clean style
Wrote in a number of different genres, both nonfiction and fictional

Setting
Owl Creek Bridge, Northern Alabama, during the Civil
War (1861-1865)

In medias res
The story begins in medias res, literally, in the
middle of things, with the hanging of Peyton
Farquhar, a well-to-do planter and Confederate
sympathizer.
The story begins on the main action and fills in
the details of how the character got to this point
later.
By doing this, it creates an immediate level of
interest to the reader.

The backstory
We subsequently learn that Farquhar was set up by a
Union spy and captured trying to sabotage a bridge that
the Union railroads used. We learn that he is a
successful, slave-owning planter with a wife and young
children.

The hanging
Bierce goes into great detail in his depiction of the
hanging (even alluding to Poes The Pit and the
Pendulum), giving all the sensory details through the
experience of his main character
He gives minute details (the veining of individual leaves
on a tree) which seem impossibly specific.
This has the effect of slowing the action down. What
takes place in mere seconds fills several pages.

The revelation
In the end, the man realizes that he imagined this whole
scenario in the time he was dropped from the bridge
until his neck is finally broken and he dies.
This type of ending showcases the unreliable narrator.
In this case, the narrator so faithfully reproduces the
characters anguish that he loses sight of reality.