Quote:
“At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of match less grace and dignity… Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bride”(Bierce 366)
Summary:
This quote is the ending of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and here we can see the end of the dream Peyton had before dying. He imagined he was able to escape from death and go back home to his wife, when in reality he died hanged from the bridge.
Response:
When I read the story, I really enjoyed how the storyline developed. I did believe for a moment that Peyton was able to escape death and that he was back with his wife. However, I had the feeling things could not develop so smoothly and that there had to be something else happening, which is why I really liked the ending.
With this quote I want to show the huge difference between reality and the delusion Peyton had before dying. This story is a clear example of the brute reality that happens in war, which is that there is not always a happy ending and there is not always a hero that can be proud of his actions. I believe the hero was a fool, because in this case, Peyton believed he was doing something great to defeat the enemy, while at the end he was considered the assassin and was the one who died.
I was really impressed of how Bierce pieced together the two realities and was able to trick the reader into believe that Peyton survived. Also, he is mocking people’s hopes of believing that a miracle could occur. Furthermore, when I read the title of the story I started thinking about Bierce’s word choice. I think the word Occurrence has a lot to do with was will happen in the story, because this word which means event, incident, and so on; at first sight would mean the event of Peyton being killed. Yet, occurrence also means something unexpected, which could be that Peyton was able to escape. But in the end the Occurrence is basically make us believe that he escaped in order to shock us when he really died. Therefore, Bierce is mocking the reader from the beginning of the story, and of course, a reader who is not completely paying attention to certain details and hints will fall for it.
“At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of match less grace and dignity… Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bride”(Bierce 366)
Summary:
This quote is the ending of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and here we can see the end of the dream Peyton had before dying. He imagined he was able to escape from death and go back home to his wife, when in reality he died hanged from the bridge.
Response:
When I read the story, I really enjoyed how the storyline developed. I did believe for a moment that Peyton was able to escape death and that he was back with his wife. However, I had the feeling things could not develop so smoothly and that there had to be something else happening, which is why I really liked the ending.
With this quote I want to show the huge difference between reality and the delusion Peyton had before dying. This story is a clear example of the brute reality that happens in war, which is that there is not always a happy ending and there is not always a hero that can be proud of his actions. I believe the hero was a fool, because in this case, Peyton believed he was doing something great to defeat the enemy, while at the end he was considered the assassin and was the one who died.
I was really impressed of how Bierce pieced together the two realities and was able to trick the reader into believe that Peyton survived. Also, he is mocking people’s hopes of believing that a miracle could occur. Furthermore, when I read the title of the story I started thinking about Bierce’s word choice. I think the word Occurrence has a lot to do with was will happen in the story, because this word which means event, incident, and so on; at first sight would mean the event of Peyton being killed. Yet, occurrence also means something unexpected, which could be that Peyton was able to escape. But in the end the Occurrence is basically make us believe that he escaped in order to shock us when he really died. Therefore, Bierce is mocking the reader from the beginning of the story, and of course, a reader who is not completely paying attention to certain details and hints will fall for it.
1 comment:
20/20 very shrewd and convincing reading of "Occurence"
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