Reality vs Imagination in Ambrose Bierce s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, Payton Farquhar, the protagonist, has a dream of being a war hero for the South. A Federal scout dressed as a Confederate lures Payton into the idea of burning a bridge to stop further advancement of Union troops. ... The story then tells of the thoughts enduring in Payton’s head before his death at Owl Creek. Bierce leads the reader through an unbelievable journey of escape until the last lines of the story. The harsh reality changes all aspects of the story, as Payton is now dead. Through illusion, misperception, and realization, Ambrose Bierce creates suspense for his readers in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Ambrose Bierce introduces the thoughts of Payton in such a way that the reader takes his escape sequence to be real. ... Brilliantly, Bierce tells the background of Payton’s life in the second section, throwing off the reader. ... ” (Bierce 517). ... The “occurrence” seems to take place between the time of the removal of the plank and the time leading up to his death. Within those few seconds, time itself ceases, or incredibly alters, in Payton’s mind giving him a dream sensation that actually becomes real in his mind. Don Habibi suggests, “[t] he occurrence is a mental projection, a feverish fantasy in the surging near-death consciousness of a condemned man” (AVL). ... Bierce creates a disproportioned fantasy of thought and reality through time and emotions depicted in the dream (Stoicheff).