An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Literary Analysis

In the incredible book, All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the reader follows Paul Baumer, a young man who enlisted in the war. The reader goes on a journey and watches Paul and his comrades face the sheer brutality of war. In this novel, the author tries to convey the fact that war should not be glorified. Through bombardment, gunfire, and the gruesome images painted by the author, one can really understand what it would have been like to serve on the front lines in the Great War. The sheer brutality of the war can be portrayed through literary devices such as personification, similes, and metaphors.

O’Brien’s unification of fact and fiction is to illustrate the idea in which the real accuracy of a war story is less significant than storytelling. The subjective truth about what the war meant and what it did to change the soldiers is more meaningful than the technical details of the

Often times war is depicted in a victorious, triumphant manner when in reality war is chaotic; full of destruction and death. In Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism” and Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” we witness the harsh reality of the war and the common human reaction to the havoc. Fred Collins simply wants water, but the well is on the other side of the battlefield. Peyton Farquhar, a loyal civilian to the South, just wanted to help in the war but instead was hanged for his good-intentioned attempt to destroy the bridge to help the Confederates. Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane wrote “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” and “A Mystery of Heroism” to show the natural human condition in adverse situations.

The first three words of the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” are, “This is true” (67). Although Tim O’Brien begins this chapter with such a bold and clear statement, throughout the chapter he has the reader thinking and confused when he contradicts himself by stating things such as, “In many cases a true war story cannot

First, the reader must understand just what makes a good "war story". The protagonist of the novel, Tim O'Brien, gives us his

Through “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” the soldiers standing, watching as everything goes on around them, are not able to stop what is happening. The soldiers represent the unforgiving nature of war.

the screams of pain, the pangs of hunger, and merciless evil. The novel recounts the

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” leads readers to query Ambrose Bierce about the numerous point of view shifts his story takes. Ambrose Bierce’s descriptive writing style grasps the reader’s attention, unknowingly manipulating the reader throughout the entire story. This statement holds to be true as the story line develops. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has a variety of ups and downs throughout the story, changing the direction and perspective through its point of view of omniscient and limited omniscient. Ambrose Bierce’s various shifts deceive readers into believing the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, has escaped a perilous fate.

But when re-reading the text, the reader finds that Bierce left several glaringly obvious hints to forewarn that he skewed the story. The first is the juxtaposition of the initial description of the setting with Farquhar’s escape strategy. In the first two paragraphs, the reader learns of four soldiers in close proximity to Farquhar, at least one armed. Not too far from there, a sentinel stands at either end of the bridge, also armed. On one bank of the river, right between the bank and the top of a hill, stands an entire infantry line, all armed. In addition to the alarming number of soldiers within firing distance; the bindings on his hands, the noose around his neck, and his position on a plank over the open water held up only by the weight of the officers on the other end all further disadvantage Farquhar. Also in the first section, the reader glosses over an important bit of information from the narrator. Bierce explicitly refers to Farquhar as “the doomed man” (Bierce, sec.I par. 7), but most readers at this point are already invested in the main character and hope that he will escape (Berkove, sec.I par. 10). Farquhar’s planning to escape exemplifies the typical human response to such a situation, but the audience lacks a logical reason to even entertain the possibility of his freedom. And yet, Bierce knew that

War stories old and modern alike are often characterized by morality. Embellished with sensory detail and loaded with emotion, they appeal to a higher moral purpose that concludes with an uplifting message, effectively restoring one’s faith in humanity and the glimmer hope that accompanies the grim reality of war. However, in The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien argues the exact opposite. He warns of stories seeming “moral,” asserting that true war stories contain “no rectitude whatsoever…no virtue” (65). In this way, he defies the traditional war story in favor of creating a non-linear timeline with an overarching theme, a theme that displays no clear morals but rather “uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil” (66). Although this extreme

One could argue that publishers will often glamourize war to ensure high ratings and entertainment interest. A real world example of this is the 2001 film, Pearl Harbor. December 7th 1941 is arguably one of the most horrific attacks of terrorism and war on American soil. Over 2,400 soldiers were killed, but somehow Michael Bay and Ben Affleck manage to swing in a love story that tries to take a more powerful message in the plot. One of the biggest issues with warfare is post-traumatic stress, and the physiological effects that war has on soldiers. All Quiet on the Western Front is an account that is set directly among soldiers who are on the front lines. It focuses on the drowning, and traumatic effect that war has on soldiers. Remarque outlines that the only way for soldiers to cope with the life of battle is to disconnect from their feelings, and bottle emotions by accepting their conditions – and this disconnection has an exponentially destructive impact on a soldiers humanity. “I am frightened: I dare think this way no more. This way lies the abyss. It is not now the time but I will not lose these thoughts... this is a task that will make life afterward worthy of these hideous years.” (Remarque, 73) Remarque himself writes about the lack of emotion, having to bottle up thoughts, and try to justify how good life afterwards will be to make up for these “hideous years.” On Kemmerich’s deathbed, no one is mourning – only battling it out for who will inherit his boots. The Storm of Steel is on all fronts an account of someone who is not a pacifist. Junger describes the brutal life of an entrenched German Soldier throughout the course of the war, with absolutely no emotion. The lack

There are times in history in which one can be proud of their country. At other times, they look at a certain point in history with despair or grief. War could be looked at through either perspective, judging by one’s character. Specifically, in the movie Fury, the directors used a little blood, gore, violence, and even sentiment to show everything that war consists of, The particular war that the movie is portraying is World War Two. From combining the bond of soldiers to the gruesome conditions in which they fight, Fury provides an accurate representation on one of the most memorable wars of all time.

The topic of war is hard to imagine from the perspective of one who hasn't experienced it. Literature makes it accessible for the reader to explore the themes of war. Owen and Remarque both dipcik what war was like for one who has never gone through it. Men in both All Quiet on the Western Front and “Dulce Et Decorum” experience betrayal of youth, horrors of war and feelings of camaraderie.

When someone is captured by the enemy in war, they are more than likely going to die. Escaping and running thousands of miles back home where family is does not happen like one might see in the movies. In war, people die. Ambrose Bierce tried to express that heavily when he wrote An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge. Looking into it through a New-Historicism criticism, Ambrose Bierce’s background, the background on the Civil War, and how the plot--more specifically the war--is portrayed can back up the idea that Ambrose Bierce wrote An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge as a message to say that war is something that should not be romanticized.

As long as there has been war, those involved have managed to get their story out. This can be a method of coping with choices made or a way to deal with atrocities that have been witnessed. It can also be a means of telling the story of war for those that may have a keen interest in it. Regardless of the reason, a few themes have been a reoccurrence throughout. In ‘A Long Way Gone,’ ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,’ and ‘Novel without a Name,’ three narrators take the readers through their memories of war and destruction ending in survival and revelation. The common revelation of these stories is one of regret. Each of these books begins with the main character as an innocent, patriotic soldier or civilian and ends in either the loss of innocence and regret of choices only to be compensated with as a dire warning to those that may read it. These books are in fact antiwar stories meant not to detest patriotism or pride for one’s country or way of life, but to detest the conditions that lead to one being so simpleminded to kill another for it. The firebombing of Dresden, the mass execution of innocent civilians in Sierra Leone and a generation of people lost to the gruesome and outlandish way of life of communism and Marxism should be enough to convince anyone. These stories serve as another perspective for the not-so-easily convinced.