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Ambrose Bierce & “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

Ambrose Bierce & “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Ambrose Bierce. Prolific journalist and short story writer Born in Ohio in June 1842 He later enrolled in the Kentucky Military Institute Served as an Union sergeant and lieutenant in the Civil War

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Ambrose Bierce & “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

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  1. Ambrose Bierce & “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

  2. Ambrose Bierce • Prolific journalist and short story writer • Born in Ohio in June 1842 • He later enrolled in the Kentucky Military Institute • Served as an Union sergeant and lieutenant in the Civil War • Fought in a number of major Civil War battles • Moved to San Francisco after the war • Married in 1871

  3. Moved around during his life: England, San Francisco, Washington • Had three children • 2 of them died young • His wife passed away in 1905 • 1913: traveled to Mexico • Disappeared and was never heard of again • His death is unknown

  4. Writing • Genres • Satirist: critical of human society, hypocrisy, pretense, political institutions • Realism: attempt to “write reality” • Journalism writing was often controversial • Influenced by Western American writers such as Mark Twain • Notable Works • “The Damned Thing” • “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1891) • “Chickamauga” • The Devil’s Dictionary

  5. Literary Movement: Realism • American literary movement: 1865-1900 • Writers portrayed reality/life as it really is • Objective details and events (rather than the ideal) • Faithful presentation of “reality”: ordinary and extraordinary • Characterization important • Middle or lower-class characters • Truthful characters • Internal detail: stream of consciousness • “Local Color” literature • Settings, customs, dialects of particular regions • Authors: Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, & Ambrose Bierce

  6. Stream of Consciousness • Portrays an individual’s point of view through a written version of character’s thought process • Individual’s subjective and ongoing mental observations • Often seems disjointed, fragmented, or illogical • Internal monologue • Famous writers: Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner • “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” • Internal dialogue of Peyton Farquhar • Moves around in time: present to the past • Meant to blur the line between reality and illusion

  7. Discussion • This story is filled with foreshadowing. What are some key examples, and how do they help us “figure” out the story? • What themes of life/death are suggested in the story? • How does the stream of consciousness technique blur the line between illusion and reality? • What is the effect of reading this account from inside Farquhar’s head? How might it be different otherwise? • Farquhar experiences several “out of body” senses and images in this story. What are some of those images? Do they seem “real” to you? • Why do you think Bierce wrote this story? What’s the point?

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