Realism In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

One of the ways naturalism relates itself with realism is in concern of the nature of inevitability in reality. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce the nature of reality is highly subjective, placing the subjective reality experienced by Farquhar, as he is to be hanged by the Federal army, against the broader reality of the events and Farquhar’s inescapable death. At the beginning of the story the careful and immutable description of how Farquhar and the soldiers are positioned on the bridge, the noose around his neck, the “stout-crossed timber above his head,” and the water far below clearly states the fate of the man to be hanged; in all sense and reason there is no possible way for him to be redeemed, his fortune to change, or for any
The whole construction of the scene represents an implicit justice, the man who has committed a crime is to be punished as an act of justice. This sense of justice is warped as the focus changes from the Federals to an evening days before when Farquhar, in the company of his wife and country home, is told of an opportunity to sabotage the Owl Creek bridge that would hold back the advance of the Federal army further into Southern territory. The informant is, of course, revealed to be a scout of the Northern army and the whole venture revealed to be a trap for the “civilian who was at heart a soldier.” This development throws the balance of whatever justice is being enacted into ambiguity and would paint Farquhar as an innocent, if not gullible, patriot were it not for his characterisation as a man “longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.” In the surreally ironic moments after he falls Farquhar gets