Charater Analysis of an Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge
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Analysis of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a short story by Ambrose Bierce. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has a Civil War theme. Ambrose uses a very descriptive style of writing to tell the story of a mans hanging, and dream of his daring escape. The three part structure of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is the storys key. It allows Ambrose to build suspense, foreshadow, use symbols, give exposition information, release setting details, and end with an ironic revolution. All crucial aspects that contribute to the dynamic of the story.
Bierce starts the story off by building suspense in the first two paragraphs. The narrator reveals little information about that about the setting, but a lot about the protagonists current situation, and his antagonists. The reader is introduced to the protagonist as a man standing on a bridge with noose around his neck. Bierce then introduces the antagonists as the mans “executioners”, two soldiers. The rest of the company of soldiers is watching silently from the other bank, which the narrator tells us is a sign of respect in the military. Within the first two paragraphs Ambrose is symbolizes to the reader that the mans death is growing very near.
Still within the first part of the story Bierce reveals some expository information about the protagonist. He is described as 35 years old, and an externally well-kept man with “good” features. The reader finds out he has a wife, and kids. Ambrose is attempting to build a more personal relationship between the reader and protagonist. The narrator does not mention any affiliation that he has with the military, so it really leaves the reader wondering what crime the man has committed that he deserves to lose his life? While the soldiers are making the final preparations to hang the man notices two things. The first is that he notices a piece of drift wood floating very slowly down the river. The second is that he hears a loud digging noise. The sound is so loud that it hurts his ears. It is just his watch ticking. The driftwood is a symbol of freedom, and the clock ticking symbolizes that he is running out of time. The man starts to think in first person about how could escape. About ways he could get his hands unbound and how far away his home. All of these factors foreshadow to the reader that an event is going to take place, like he has a chance to escape, and at the time the soldiers remove the board from under his feet.
In the second section of ” An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Bierce goes back in time in to before the man was captured to release more important information about the main character, and gives a very ironic explanation as to why he has been captured in the first place. The reader learns the main characters name is Peter Fahrquhar.