Ambrose Bierce- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce



He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore or understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith’s hammer upon an anvil; it had the same ringing quality. (Bierce 134)

After reading the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the one passage from the reading that I felt and understood was the passage on page 134. I loved the use of imagery; the way the author described the scenery. The author wanted us to not only see but also feel and understand what Peyton was going through, the fact that he knew he was about to die was simple scary and unreal. I thought the passage was thoughtful and perfectly written. His use of simile when describing the sound that he was hearing, his description of the water, it was as if everything troubled him. He was about to die, and he noticed everything, it was as if time had stopped and he could see and hear all things. In some kind of weird way he had God like powers, he could see and hear all things. While reading the passage I thought about me being at my deathbed, and what will run through my head, what I will feel, what emotions would I have? Peyton Farquhar was being controlled by his thoughts, he had all powers and his mind just wondered freely, free of all things. I found that this passage was most important because it was brilliantly written, from the beginning to the end, it was intense, I could picture everything, and I loved how the author wrote it with so much imagination. Peyton could described and heard sounds that he wouldn’t have normally heard, his senses were working faster and stronger than ever before; it was astonishing to me because it made me wonder about death. The essence of death and the way I would die, what powers would I have, and how will I die.