Owl Creek Bridge Allusion

"... the wind made in the tree's branches the music of Æolian harps." Ambrose Bierce uses allusions and imagery to create a sense of wonderment and mysteriousness for first-time readers of his historical fiction story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Within this short story, a man named Peyton Farquhar is being hung from Owl Creek Bridge for trespassing into Union territory during the civil war. As he is dropped the rope breaks and he makes his escape after dropping into the river below. After swimming through gunfire and a vortex, traversing through an endless forest, and suffering thirst and weariness, Farquhar finally reaches his home. Just as he is greeted by his wife, Farquhar's world ends as his neck breaks and his body is hanging from the bridge. The sudden conclusion reveals the past events, starting from the rope breaking, was all a hallucination. While the ending shocks many first-time readers, second-time readers may recognize numerous instances of foreshadowing implemented into the figurative language used to create emotion. In order to embed this foreshadowing, Bierce creates certain events in the hallucination that correspond with events outside of the hallucination. Furthermore, he adds conspicuous allusions to Greek mythology. Lastly, Bierce formulates a
"[The road] was as wide and straight as a city street. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere." this quote is a metaphorical reference comparing the scene in the Farquhar's mind to the River Styx in Hades. The small instance of the word "fields" may refer to the Fields of Asphodel, also found in Hades of Greek myth. "Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation." This quote from the story is an allusion to Cerberus, the three-headed dog of the Underworld. These particular citations all refer to Hades, which is broadly used as a symbol for