Preview

Comparing “an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to “Young Goodman Brown”

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
571 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing “an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to “Young Goodman Brown”
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Young Goodman Brown” are two stories about men going through journeys, symbolism and have trouble with reality. In “Young Goodman Brown” he goes through a journey of good and evil, but after reading the story, there is a problem with reality and what truly happened. At the end of the story it felt like Goodman Brown woke up from a dream that felt so real he didn’t trust anyone anymore. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is also journey between imaging what is happening and what is real. Peyton Farquhar jumped in and out of reality in the story, he imagined escaping and getting back to his family. He imagined different realities, as the hanging started there was a pause in his mind that took him to a different place, but in the end reality became true and he died.
“Young Goodman Brown” is a story of a man that goes on a journey into the forest for one night. In this journey Goodman Brown is faced to stand upon good and evil. In the beginning he has an arranged meet with a man with walking serpent stick, which looks like the snake is moving and is tempted to use with the devil but turns it down for his wife that is at home waiting for him. After being asked to turn to the devil with harsh truths about his father and grandfather, he also learns that there are some of his church members that are evil. When turning down all the attempts of evil, Goodman Brown rests when he hears his wife, Faith with the other members and he sees her pink ribbons falling from a tree, and he knows there isn’t anything good in the world. He decides to use the walking stick to get to faith. After seeing everyone who turned, the next morning came and he was not able to trust anyone again and he dies alone.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is about a man named Peyton Farquhar, a secessionist from an Alabama family who is about to be hung by the federal army. The author starts the story by describing how the man is standing on the bridge, his
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Summary
    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages

    An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge Summary

    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…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    The short story by Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a story of many different feelings. The story causes the reader to visualize the preciousness of life itself and takes the reader on a roller coaster of different feelings on as to what is going on and in doing so, Bierce’s style tells the story through visual aids and highly descriptive language. The story begins on a railroad bridge, where many northern troops stand with Peyton Farquhar standing on the edge of the bridge on a plank of wood in his last moments of life.…

    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare And Contrast Young Goodman Brown And The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Compare And Contrast Young Goodman Brown And The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

    The character Goodman Brown, from “Young Goodman Brown,” partakes in a journey into the forest during the late evening where he undertakes many obscure paths that transform his attitude with life completely. Goodman Brown starts off as an innocent man until he ventures deeper into the forest and meets with an elderly man that possibly represents the devil. The stranger began to corrupt Goodman Brown’s mind as they proceeded along the journey. For example, “Goodman Brown believes in the Christian nature of Goody Cloyse, the minister,…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Hypocrisy In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Hypocrisy In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    During his experience in the forest, Goodman Brown begins to understand fully that his community is full of hypocrisy, which leads him to being distrustful to those around him. This is because his search for spiritual enlightenment leads him to lose his faith in God. What’s more, his nighttime journey forces him to question the devil’s existence in the darkness that he finds himself. In addition, he begins to understand that people use religion to hide their evil deeds. Such is the case he associates with his father and grandfather violent atrocities disguised as their moral obligations (388). In fact the scene leaves the reader with questions about the reality Goodman Brown faces as he witnesses a witch, the devil worshippers around the alter and a spooky dark cloud. However, the occurrence the devil shows him becomes the important message and the source of Goodman’s misgivings (Bloom, 42).…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    The short story “Young Goodman Brown” begins by introducing a woman named faith and a man named Goodman Brown. They have just recently wed and Mr. brown tells his wife he will go on one last trip to meet with the devil to take part in some forms of devilish acts. The name Goodman Brown is the first clear insight on the authors concept of mankind’s, which is that even good men can become brown. Brown in this instant refers to that even men who are good do take part in devilish acts, and commit sinful actions thus causing them to become brown. The story depicts Goodman Brown wife Faith as the embodiment of someone who is holy, and Goodman brown states when he returns he’ll use her to pull himself back into the graces of god. Which also demonstrating…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Character Analysis: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Character Analysis: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

    In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the main character Peyton Farquhar is condemned for death, standing with noose around his neck waiting to be dropped off a bridge to a brutal death by a group of Union soldiers that had obviously captured him. The story flashes back to the events prior to his execution, as well as moving forward from his execution to his seemingly real escape. In the end, it is revealed that his escape was a figment of his imagination before he died.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Character Comparison of “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Lottery”
    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Character Comparison of “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Lottery”

    a. Goodman Brown's sets out on a walk in the forest, but knows that evil awaits him.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    False Question Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages

    False Question Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    Young Goodman Brown ask a false question of faith, false in the assertion that the question can have only two answers. Faith is singularly defined as good thus all else, especially doubt, is evil. Therefore, Goodman Brown’s revelation - not all people of faith have pure faith- is profoundly troubling. In effect the rigid construct of his world is shattered. Furthermore Brown, due to his position in society, epitomizes respectability and is naturally married to Faith. His status is essentially his birthright, for his father and grandfather before him were reputable men. To an extent Brown functions as the common American man who cherishes the history of a country and family name bestowed onto him while lamenting obligation. Goodman encounters the conflict of masculinity explicitly, not only does he carry a highly regarded family name, but he also is not privy to innocence and blind faith like his wife. Faith is pink, childlike, and unknowing of darkness or doubt. Faith represents the impossibility of unadulterated belief, for it is remarkably unlikely for a mature adult to be so ignorant of life’s tribulations. However, in Young Goodman Brown unadulterated faith is presented as the only pious option even though doubt is inevitable and pervasive. Doubt and the darkness lingering in the forest have, in fact, reached nearly the whole town. There in the woods “the good shrank not from the wicked”(85). In reality, there is no clear divide between good and evil, thus there is no clear divide between faith and doubt. Such a statement, a refusal of dichotomy,…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Destruction Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Destruction Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    Goodman Brown is a faithful Christian until he begins to go on a journey to find his spiritual path. We are lead to believe that he arranges a meeting with the devil, by the devil later stating that Goodman is late. His wife, Faith, also a metaphor for his relationship with God test him and keeps him back from his journey for a small time.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    An Occurrence at Ol Creek Bridge
    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An Occurrence at Ol Creek Bridge

    Upon reading "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrouse Bierce I immediately found myself pulled into this story from sentence one. The story is both vivid and simplistically complex. Bierce's telling of this story read like so many movies I've seen in the past. We've all seen these movies. The movie starts in the present or what we preceive to be the present and then like a sling shot catapults us back in time to account for what we've just seen. The story flowed seemlessly through time without leaving me feeling at any point confused about where or when I was. The use of time in this story was used to perfection. It starts in the present takes you back to the past and at certain parts in the story time seems to stand still. While reading this story I often at times felt as if I myself were Peyton Farquhar and that the noose was around my neck. At the begginning of this story one could come to the conclusion that Farquhar was a captured enemy soldier about to be hung for his crimes but as the story evolves we can see that he is something more complex. He's a man of substance and privilege with an insatiable love for his country and way of life. Peyton Farquhar grew up as a rich southerner. He had everything that a man could want at that point in time: a wife, children, land and slaves. For reasons unexplained in the story he was unable to take up arms and fight for his beloved country. Although he had all that a man in his time could want he felt unfulfilled. An evening of relaxation with his wife on the front porch as fate would have it would yield him a chance to take part in the fight and gain some sense of redemption. As they sat they were approached by a Federal scout and was told of events on Owl Creek Bridge. He saw that him destroying the bridge would give him a chance to make his mark in the war. This is why he was willing to do anything as "no service was too humble to him to perform in aid of the south, no…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Symbolism of Setting and Character Descriptions in Young Goodman Brown
    • 1865 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Symbolism of Setting and Character Descriptions in Young Goodman Brown

    The story of Young Goodman Brown takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, and the forest surrounding the town. Salem became famous for its witch tr1ials and the evil lurking within its forests. Forests are best known for being places of evil, “Satan’s playground”, for “There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,” (Hawthorne 1). Night itself is considered to be the time when evil lurks about. The night and the forest represent the unknown, and the darkness lurking within every person. The story of Young Goodman Brown commonly describes the path Brown takes, winding its way through the forest, in and out of trees. “He had taken a dreary road; darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind… he passed a crook of the road.” (Hawthorne 1). Crooks in the road and narrow winding paths symbolize both good and bad choices. The two routes long and complex, but some may show the way out, while others drag many people farther into the forest, deeper into the grip of Satan. The evils of uncertainty easily temp people when they are unsure of the world around them. “At one extremity of an open space, hemmed in by the dark wall of the forest, arose a rock, bearing some rude resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an evening meeting.” (Hawthorne 5). The dark wall that surrounds the edge of the clearing represents the location of the clearing in the depths of the forest, still in the realms of evil. For example, Hansel and…

    • 1865 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Evil In Young Goodman Brown
    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Evil In Young Goodman Brown

    Young Goodman Brown plays the Eve role. Despite Fairth, his wife, begging him to stay with her, Brown walks into the forest at dusk. He is tempted by an old man carrying a walking stick like a "serpent's tail" (Hawthorne 271). The man admonished Brown for being late, but like Eve, Brown is not sure he should go further saying "Faith kept me back awhile" (272). As in the Garden of Eden story, Brown, like Eve, remembers that his actions have implications for others. However, he falls for the temptation to know what lies within the forest and “with this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose (272). Young Goodman was well aware that there was something evil to the forest, just like Eve was aware not to eat the forbidden fruit. Being conscious of the dangers that might change his life, he goes on to take the risk. Just as Faith represents Adam she is also his reason thinking twice the evil temptation. She represented the faith that Young Goodman Brown had in God. However, it can be…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Essay Young Goodman Brown
    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Theme Essay Young Goodman Brown

    "Young Goodman Brown", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, delves into the classic battle between good and evil; taking the protagonist, Goodman Brown, on a journey to test the resolve of his faith. Goodman ventures out on his expedition deep into the sinister forest, in order to repudiate the attempt of the devil to sway him from Christianity; a test he believes his devout faith is prepared to confront. Goodman Brown is forever altered in ways unforeseeable by taking a stroll with the ultimate antagonist, the devil himself. The prevailing theme in this literary work, which is common in Hawthorne's gothic writing, is the realization that evil can infect people who seem perfectly respectable. Throughout the course of his journey, Goodman Brown discovers that even highly reputable people of Salem are vulnerable to the forces of darkness.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Young Goodman Brown
    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Young Goodman Brown

    Young Goodman Brown is about a young, newly wedded man who leaves his wife, Faith, and to go on a journey into the forest one night. Young Goodman Brown has an innocent and maybe even naïve soul and was looked upon by townspeople as a “silly fellow” (Hawthorne 83). He is accompanied by a mysterious, older man who is later on revealed to be the devil. As they are walking, Young Goodman Brown tries to turn back several times and at one point succeeds in getting rid of the devil. However, when he sees that even his wife has surrendered to the same evil path that he was on, he stops resisting and continues into the forest. He ends up at a witches’ sabbath where he sees familiar faces of people whom he previously looked up to for spiritual guidance; he also finds Faith there and becomes devastated. In the end, he cries out to resist the devil and then wakes up to find himself alone in the forest.…

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Christianity In Young Goodman Brown
    • 2173 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Christianity In Young Goodman Brown

    Young Goodman Brown portrays a common disaster a young Christian experiences when he/she allows him/her self to stray from the familiar paths prescribed by the Bible and other mature Christians. The journey of Goodman Brown parallels many who have attempted to walk the Christian path and somehow strayed into dangerous territory. The story is about a young man named Goodman Brown who goes on an errand of evil intent taken place in the darkness of a forest. Upon arriving, brown encounters another traveler who is revealed to be the devil. The devil employs cunning tactics that compel the young Christian to abandon his faith and returns to live out the rest of his life without hope and in despair.…

    • 2173 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics