An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Second to the Last paragraph of part III

Peyton Farquhar walks all the way to his home through the forest and sees his wife. However, suddenly everything becomes dark and silent. How much is true and how did he “actually” die? If nothing in part III happened, then how long did it take for Farquhar to die? What is reasonable and unreasonable? Most of part III is description, but it turns out to be the description of “imagination”. However, the author never draws clear line between actual facts and what Farquhar perceived as facts. Instead of detailed contradictions, the author flips the story and makes the whole story ambiguous. It is even questionable that he was even hung for the interference of the railroad construction. Throughout the story, he does not talk to or touch anyone, and when he is about to touch his wife, he comes back to the “reality”, if there were any.

Did part III happened after his death? It also sounds fairly reasonable. Part III might have happened after Farquhar’s death, but the author just kept it from the readers until the last sentence of the story. Is he conscious or not? Concluding the story is far more difficult than it initially appeared to be because of the last two paragraphs; what readers perceived to be true and facts became more ambiguous than ever. Depending on how much is real, different conclusions can be drawn.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

I chose to analyze the passage that starts "As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward." In this paragraph, similar to the ones we read in class, Ambrose Bierce changes verb tense from present to past and back to present. In the first sentence Peyton is falling through the bridge and Bierce says that he is dead. However, the next sentence states in past tense that Peyton Farquhar was awakened, which is a liminality. Peyton cannot be both dead and alive at the same time, so when the author says Peyton is awakened maybe these are actually Peyton’s thoughts right before he dies, rather than his postmortem thoughts.
Bierce makes time ambiguous throughout the story and especially in this paragraph by alternating verb tenses. When Bierce uses past tense to describe how Peyton feels after he was awakened, maybe this description is referring back to something that occurred earlier in the story right before Peyton was hanged. Bierce seems to use imagery that might suggest that Peyton’s soul is in heaven by describing Peyton as “encompassed in a luminous cloud…without material substance.” Also, earlier in the paragraph Bierce says that Peyton “had power only to feel” so maybe he was in heaven right after he died in this section of the paragraph. However, Bierce creates an ambiguous situation when he says Peyton’s “power of thought was restored” because that creates the illusion that Peyton is still alive since he has the ability to think.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Paragraph Analysis

I chose to analyze the paragraph that begins with "As Peyton Farquhar fell straight". The paragraph begins with a statement about how he has lost consciousness and is already dead. In the following sentence, It says he is awakened. These statements clearly contradict each other. It later states, he is only conscious of motion and was encompassed by a luminous cloud and he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation like a vast pendulum. This leads one to believe time is moving very slowly for him and cannot see or hear. In the following sentence, it says, "all was cold and dark". After this sentence, I believed he died, but in the next sentence it says, "the power of thought was restored". This made me believe he was was still alive rather than dead. It then says, "He saw above him a gleam of light". This supports the belief that he is alive and conscious but then its says the light began to die out until it was only a dimmer. This made me believe the light than began to die out connected to his life and how he was dying. The next sentence again contradicts the preceding sentence by stating the light began to brighten and he began to rise to the surface. This means he was living. This also gives the reader hope that he will survive the hanging, however; in the next sentence it says Farquhar thinks he will be shot after rising to the surface. This saddens the tone again and causes the reader to lose hope for his survival. Essentially, this whole paragraph is very ambiguous and contradictory because it goes back and forth making the reader believe he is dead or will die or he will survive.

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

I chose to analyze the paragraph that begins "He was now in full possession of his sense". The narrator is contradictory in that he states that Farquhar is in full possession of his senses, but he does not seem to have control over them at all. As soon as Farquhar has escaped from his noose, his perception of time returns to normal, but his senses are over exaggerated, maybe as if he wants to capture every moment againas he did when time slowed for him before his hanging. The only difference is that now, it is his senses that are changing his perception of the world. Everything he notices also seems to be full of life and color, a parallel to him as he has just escaped from death, and he seems to appreciate it when his senses return, as he states that his noted observations create music, which is generally pleasing. Also, as on the first page, his findings are still distacting him from what is important, as he has noticed the forest down to the dewdrops and insects, but has completely ignored his executioners, who are still a threat to him. The paragraph is absolute in that the narrator is simply stating what Farquhar observes, but it also conflicts within itself as Farquhar shouldn't be able to notice all these tiny details if his perception of the world has truly returned to normal.

Analysis of An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge paragraph III

As I read through the paragraph, towards the beginning it seemed as though the author was giving solid details as to what was occuring at this point in the story. If you continue to read through the paragraph it becomes more ambiguous rather than absolute. For example in the beginning it speaks of the "sharp pressure upon his throat" and "a sense of suffocation". These are giving main details to his state at that period in time. As the reader may continue, you can notice that the author says that 'he' is swinging through unthinkable arcs of oscillation. In my opinion this could mean that he is in fact hanging already or just thinking of what it will be like to be hung. The author then contradicts him self when he states, "the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud plash". This made me think of after he was hung (if that did happen-->ambiguious) maybe it was reffering to after life in heaven. Soon after though the author contradicts what he says by writing, "a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark". This sentence could possibly represent hell or just can so much more add to the fact that he may be dead already and just losing feeling in his body.

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Part III: Paragraph 1 (ending midway of paragraph at "...now very comfortable.")

This paragraph in the story is very descriptive but it is also full of many contradictions to what he is feeling and what he is seeing. It begins by saying that he was unconsicous but basically already dead, but then it goes on to say that he awakens with pain. It goes into descriptions of what pain he is experiencing but only what he can feel not his thoughts. And for him to die from being hanged at the bottom of the river doesn't quite make sense to me...Like the plank that was floating when he was still on the bridge, i think that in a way he uses signs like this to change his mindset. He sees this small glim of light and maybe this made him come to the realiztion that it isnt impossible to stop sinking which gave him the motivation to swim to the surface, and that is what kept him alive.

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

You can post here as comment or as a new post at this point.

Looking forward to reading your comments about your chosen paragraphs!

Paragraph Analyzing

Paragraph: "As Peyton Farquhar fell straight down...that is not fair."

Peyton falls from the bridge and since he was being hung, it would make sense that his neck broke and he died. However, it says he was awakened. That doesn't make sense because if someone falls from a bridge with a noose around their neck, they would die - not be awakened. But it is interesting how it says it seems like he was awakened years later. It also says he felt sharp pain around his neck, suffocation and many other shooting pains through his body so again the reader assumes Peyton has died. The reading then says his head felt congested and full - but not full of thoughts. He had lost ability to think and only had ability to feel. The noose is said to be strangling him which would kill him. But it still seems as if he is alive. It then says he would die of hanging at the bottom of a river. That is contradicting and an oxymoron - to drown at the bottom of a river or hang from a bridge. It then talks about a light he sees. At first it shoots right near him and then later it says it seems so distant. Next the reading says he sinking towards the bottom, but then it goes on to say he was rising toward the surface. This passage is confusing and ambigious because it seems as if Peyton is dead because he was hanged but then it also seems like he is still alive.

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

I chose to analyze paragraph 1 in part III.

This paragraph is introduced by the previous paragraph, a flashback. The flashback contains specific details and a play by play of an event that took place in the "doomed man's" life. Bierce is following the same pattern from before: flipping between absolute and ambiguous. Part III opens up a whole new section filled with ambiguity.

On the first day of class we discussed absolutes. We created a small list of things considered clear and unchangeable in our every day lives. One of those things was time. In the second sentence of this paragraph, Bierce immediately contradicts our assumptions that time is absolute. "From the state he was awakened - ages later, it seemed to him." We will never know how long it truly was that the man was in that state. If it felt like ages to him, then why is it not ages? Is time really defined by what we say it is, or is it more ambiguous than we anticipate? Why can't time be how long something feels? Regardless, Bierce is showing us that time has the ability to change. It may feel longer in some situations than in others. Therefore, time has ambiguous qualities.

Another one of the "absolutes" we discussed in class was location. Bierce writes, "He opened his eyes in the blackness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible." Bierce was seeing this light as he rose to the surface of the river. How far was this light? Sure, we can measure how far it is away in distance, but under his circumstance and perspective, the light could seem to be aeons away. In his case, the distance of the light is defined by the amount of time it takes him to get there, and isn't time somewhat ambiguous? It is possible that location is not that concrete.

The final piece of this paragraph that really drew my attention was Bierce's description of the man watching his hands. "His arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched them with a new interest as first one and then the other pounced upon the noose of his neck." His hands seem to have no connection with his body. It doesn't appear to the reader that this man has control over his actions. His hands are moving in the direction he needs them to move, but he is not dictated these motions to them. Instead, he is just watching with awe. It is fair to say that in this scene, even actions are ambiguous.

I think I've finally figured out how to work all this technology, but I'm really excited for this class!

I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say "Hello." / Goodbye. / I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. - White Rabbit

This class is going to be awesome

http://www.wikispaces.com/user/my/mldigeorge

Practice Post

wooo!

Welcome to our class blog!

I'm looking forward to our semester together!

Once you accept your invitation, add a new post and share some of your thoughts about your upcoming senior year. What are you excited about? What do you hope this year will be like?