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.