Ambrose Bierce - An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge

Ambrose Bierce was a man with an unusual personality. He spent most of his life surrounded by war and death and in return, his stories and character reflected it. In 1861, he enlisted during the Civil War into the Union Army. During his term, he re-enlisted twice and was a part of some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. His writings reflected the war and fighting he had experienced so death became the center of most of his writings.
In his story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, it first tells us of a man with his hands tied behind his back and a noose around his neck. It is immediately evident that death is about to bestow this man. There are executioners, soldiers of the Federal Army, a sergeant and a deputy sheriff. Why they are about to hang this man isn’t immediately known. This man is Peyton Farquhar and he is about 35 years old and is a civilian. Farquhar is on a plank that is being held by two other men and without their weight holding the plank where it is, it would let Farquhar fall to his demise.
Farquhar stands with a calm look on his face, but he is thinking that if he could just get his hands free, he could jump to the river below and swim to safety. He then hears what he describes as someone hitting an anvil, but it turns out to be the ticking of his watch. As the story unfolds, it tells us that Farquhar was at home when a soldier came up and asked for a drink of water. As he wife fetches the water, he inquires to the soldier about the progress of the war. The soldier tells him that the Yanks are getting ready for another advance and are at Owl Creek bridge and if a civilian is caught interfering, he will be hanged. However, he was really a Federal Scout.
As the story tells of Farquhar falling to be hanged, it tells you that the rope had broken and as he falls into the river, he eventually makes it down river after being shot at, but he makes it to safety and walks all the way home. As his wife reaches for him, he feels a stunning blow to the back of his neck and then a blinding white light, then darkness and silence. It is then revealed that the details of his escape and return home was just a vision he had as he was falling from the bridge as he was being hung. His neck broke and then he was dead.
As I was reading this part, I couldn’t decide if what I was reading was real or not since it was already revealed in the biography that Bierce writing almost always involved death. As the last paragraph was read, I wasn’t too shocked. Even though I wanted him to be free and back home with his wife and children, there was the constant thought that death had to come to him somewhere. Even though I was a little disappointed that in the end he did die, I still liked the story. It had many vibrant details and was written with the perfect drawing that made me want to read more.