Characters
This Alabama planter is the main character who faces execution by hanging.
Who is Peyton Farquhar?
The story opens with Farquhar standing on this structure
What is a bridge?
The story takes place during this major American conflict.
What is the Civil War?
The story is told from this narrative perspective
What is third person limited?
The ticking of Farquhar's watch symbolizes this concept central to the story.
What is time (or the passage of time/mortality)?
THEMES & SYMBOLS - $200
This type of soldier approaches Farquhar's plantation and tricks him into attempting sabotage.
Who is a Union scout (disguised as a Confederate soldier)?
Farquhar was caught attempting to do this to Owl Creek Bridge.
What is burn it down (or sabotage/destroy it)?
Owl Creek Bridge is located in this Southern state
What is Alabama?
Bierce uses this technique when he shows Farquhar's backstory in Part II.
What is flashback?
Water in the story represents both this positive concept and this negative one.
What are life/escape and death?
Farquhar's wife appears in this part of the story's structure.
What is the flashback (or Part II)?
In his fantasy escape, Farquhar believes he does this after the rope breaks
What is fall into the water and swim away?
Farquhar's plantation is located this distance from the bridge
What is thirty miles?
The story's ending reveals that Part III was actually this.
What is a fantasy/hallucination/dream (occurring in Farquhar's mind as he dies)?
The story explores this theme about the nature of what we perceive versus what is real.
What is reality versus illusion (or fantasy)?
The soldiers executing Farquhar belong to this army.
What is the Union Army?
This happens at the very end of the story, revealing the truth about Farquhar's "escape."
What is Farquhar dies/is hanged (his neck is broken)?
The execution takes place at this time of day, creating an eerie atmosphere.
What is dawn (or early morning)?
Bierce uses this literary device when Farquhar's heightened senses allow him to hear his watch ticking loudly.
What is imagery (or sensory details)?
Farquhar's desperate desire to return to his family represents this universal human theme.
What is the will to live (or love of family/home)?
This character trait of Farquhar's leads to his downfall - his desire to serve the Confederate cause despite not being a soldier.
What is his patriotism (or zealousness/eagerness to help)?
The Union scout tells Farquhar that this natural material near the bridge would burn easily
What is driftwood?
In Farquhar's imagined journey home, he travels through this type of terrain that becomes increasingly wild and unfamiliar.
What is a forest (or wilderness/woods)?
The story's structure, jumping between present action, flashback, and fantasy, is an example of this narrative technique.
What is non-linear narrative (or fragmented/disrupted chronology)?
The bridge itself symbolizes this concept - the space between life and death, reality and fantasy.
What is transition (or threshold/liminal space)?