An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Ambrose Bierce describes Payton Farquhar’s near death experience to give the reader a bitter sweet view of what Payton’s life could have looked like. Bierce vividly describes Payton’s emotions prior to his death. “ They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared that he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.” Time was slowing down in Payton’s mind because he had little left. Payton starts plotting an escape while looking over the river. Bierce uses misdirection in part 2 by describing Payton and how he came to be in the situation. This break distracts the reader and allows Bierce to take Payton on a survival adventure.

In Payton’s escape he notices things in life he took for granted, “Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that he made record of things never before perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck.” Amidst the stress of surviving his escape Payton is able to appreciate the things in life he had always ignored. When he made it to land he described the gravel as “diamonds and rubies”. Reaching the beach Bierce wrote “ He had no wish to perfect his escape- was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken”. The use of all these adjectives leads the reader to believe that this near death experience will leave Payton with a new and improved outlook on life. Bierce goes back to the point of the misdirection and has Payton die because he does not want to glorify civilians being hung during the Civil War. Having Payton’s escape be described in such blissful detail only to learn that he indeed died is Bierce’s way to explain the horrors he witnessed as a soldier. It is clear in this piece that Bierce is pessimistic and experienced some hardships as a soldier.