lexicographer; Bitter Bierce. He was called pessimistic‚ cynical‚ morose‚ idealistic‚ frustrated‚ obscure‚ sadistic‚ brutal‚ kind. His office desk held two peculiar objects—a skull and a cigar box. If you asked him why‚ he’d explain: the skull once belonged to a dear friend‚ and the box contained the ashes of a critic. While saying this‚ he would neither laugh nor smile. Despite his curmudgeonly exterior and his inability to be defined within the context of literary studies‚ Bierce was a very accomplished
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“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce weaves a tale of intrigue and captivation‚ by using shifts of voice and time in the story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. In the first four paragraphs‚ Bierce begins the story using third person‚ and in this point of view‚ he creates reality. We can view the situation and all aspects while it is written in third person; we know precisely what is going on‚ we know it is real. Near the end of the fourth paragraph‚ the author shifts cleverly from
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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Evaluation of Literary Elements Swinging from a noose off a railroad trellis‚ many thoughts race through a condemned man’s mind. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge‚” Ambrose Bierce effectively uses literary elements to allow the reader to look through the keyhole of the mind of a dying man in his last moments of life. Elements such as realism‚ flashback‚ metaphor/simile‚ setting‚ point of view‚ and character allow the reader to become
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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
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the bridge down. In the story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. In the short story naturalism is being showed that man is insignificant‚ nature is ambivalent‚ and the effect of stress on the average individual. In the beginning‚ the story starts by showing how man is insignificant or how people just don’t care. One example would be man of “thirty-five years old who is engaged to be hanged” (Bierce 582). Another example is “He was a civilian‚ if one
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Ambrose Bierce’s story denies the audience the satisfaction of the stereotypical “happy ending”. Instead Bierce focuses on the harsh reality that is facing the consequences of one’s own foolish actions. He emphasizes his main point by showing his readers what really happens when someone acts before they think. Like many people during that time period the main
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The Andersonville camp was an awful‚ murderous place for Union soldiers to be held prisoners in. It was established in Andersonville‚ Georgia by General John H. Winder and nearly 13‚000 men died over the fourteen months the prison had been in operation. These Union prisoners suffered in the nasty condition of the camp and had little to no clothes‚ food rations and medical care. At the end of the Civil War‚ Captain Henry Wirz was questioned in court for committing crimes against humanity and was
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Death to the traitors! Bierce uses foreshadowing to create a shock effect for the reader’s throughout the entire short story of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Ambrose furthermore uses symbolism to foreshadow events in his story. He also uses imagery to indicate events that were occurring. Ambrose Bierce uses foreshadowing and other literal techniques to create a shock effect in his short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. To begin with Ambrose Bierce uses foreshadowing a lot in this
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only he knows exactly‚ what it is’” (Bierce 11). The statement being a student of hanging by Peyton referred that he was a hangman but in reality he is the one that is hanged. Hanging is not the outcome Mr. Farquhar had in mind. There are some examples of dramatic irony in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. For example‚ Peyton Farquhar dreams of greater glory on the battlefield‚ rather than from the more "humble" duty of spying for the Confederacy (Bierce 71). Farquhar is deceived by the Southern
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This Short story by Ambrose Bierce is excellent in terms with the plot‚ sense of time and descriptive writing. After reading the story what I favor most about this story is the use of time and how it keeps the reader interested from the start to the end with its imagery and exquisite description. In the beginning‚ the outlook appears to be dark as the main character Peyton Farquhar‚ is being hanged. “The man’s hands were behind his back‚ the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his
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