Owl at Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Objective-tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.
Third Person-here the narrator. lets us know exactly how the characters feel.
First Person-in the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of the story.
Omniscient-a narrator who knows everything about all the characters, is all knowing.
Limited Omniscient-a narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, has a limited omniscient point of view.
Discussion Questions:
1. What happens in this story?
Peyton Farquhar is being hanged and while he is waiting, he thinks about his wife and children. Then, breaks away from his noose and goes to his house where he sees his wife and just as he is about to approach her, he gets a blow to head and dies. But, Farquhar imagined this all in a flash before his death.
2. Why does the disguised federal scout suggest to Farquhar that he should burn the bridge?
The disguised federal scout suggests that Farquhar should burn the bridge because he lured Farquhar into a trap. Anyone that is caught interfering with the railroads faces automatic hanging.
3. How might one account for Farquhar’s intense sensitivity to his surroundings during and after his escape?
Farquhar tends to exaggerate what he is going through and make it obvious that it isn’t reality. During his escape he talks about how he is practically drowning in the water, how his neck and wrist ache and how the river flows. After his escape he talks about how relieved he is to get on land and then he elaborates on how he sees his wife and how lovely she looks.
4. This story employs multiple points of view: identify which POV is being used at which points in the story.
In the first part of the story, it is told in third-person but
Objective-tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.
Third Person-here the narrator. lets us know exactly how the characters feel.
First Person-in the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of the story.
Omniscient-a narrator who knows everything about all the characters, is all knowing.
Limited Omniscient-a narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, has a limited omniscient point of view.
Discussion Questions:
1. What happens in this story?
Peyton Farquhar is being hanged and while he is waiting, he thinks about his wife and children. Then, breaks away from his noose and goes to his house where he sees his wife and just as he is about to approach her, he gets a blow to head and dies. But, Farquhar imagined this all in a flash before his death.
2. Why does the disguised federal scout suggest to Farquhar that he should burn the bridge?
The disguised federal scout suggests that Farquhar should burn the bridge because he lured Farquhar into a trap. Anyone that is caught interfering with the railroads faces automatic hanging.
3. How might one account for Farquhar’s intense sensitivity to his surroundings during and after his escape?
Farquhar tends to exaggerate what he is going through and make it obvious that it isn’t reality. During his escape he talks about how he is practically drowning in the water, how his neck and wrist ache and how the river flows. After his escape he talks about how relieved he is to get on land and then he elaborates on how he sees his wife and how lovely she looks.
4. This story employs multiple points of view: identify which POV is being used at which points in the story.
In the first part of the story, it is told in third-person but