One example from the story Editha by W.D. Howells that is more naturalistic than realistic occurs at the very end of the story. Editha is currently ashamed and pitying herself after the death of her boyfriend in the Spanish-American War, whom she basically bullied into volunteering for the …show more content…
Even though both short stories, Editha and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, have illusions which the reader gets caught into, they are very different from one another. In Editha, the illusion comes about when George dies at war and the reader is convinced that Editha realized her selfishness and learned her lesson. Howells convinces the reader even farther by describing that Editha was physically ill with fever and grief. Only during the last paragraph are readers forced back to reality in that Editha has not changed and would probably continue to manipulate people in the future. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton vividly depicts that when the sergeant steps off the wooden plank that he is standing on that the noose breaks and leads him spiraling into the water below. The reader is left on edge as Peyton barely escapes being killed from the shots fired from the soldiers, he then proceeds to attempt to find his way home back to his wife and children. Only once he finds the road he knows does the reader know what is happening, during this point in the story Peyton describes he swelled and bruised neck and how he couldn’t seem to feel the ground beneath his feet. He is then transported to the gates of his house and sees he wife, when he takes a step forward he feels and blow to his neck and is consumed by blackness. The last sentenced confirms the readers beliefs that he did not actually escape, he was dreaming and the noose never broke. Both the stories show the illusions wrenching the reader to see the grim reality of the