An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

While reading An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge I thought that Peyton Farquhar would go back to his wife and start a family and begin to live life better than he had before because he had come so close to dying. Maybe he would also become involved in some sort of humanitarian work or attempt to find a way to end the war and unite the North and South after seeing the horrible things they could do. I also thought of the possibility of him abandoning living with humans other than his wife and going to live among nature, away from the evils of mankind that he had witnessed. This seemed like a very likely possibilty because when Peyton rose from the water after being shot at and almost drowning he stands on the bank of the river and doesnt even want to escape any further because he feels so at peace away from people. Once the shots ring out from the bridge however he runs through the forest and landscape, in awe from all of the scenery and also thinking about his family the entire time. It really seemed to put his life into perspective coming that close to death, he realized that war and violence against your neighbors is not what you want your life to be all about, but instead you should live your life with your family and grow old happy with them.


It was almost shocking for me when the author, Ambrose Bierce, reveals that Peyton had never escaped or gone back home to his family, and he was actually hung by the Northern forces who had tricked him. It just seems like such a waste because with his lastsecond thoughts of escape it feels like he had really sorted his life out and would no longer be a threat to the Northern forces but they kill him anyway in cold blood. The story really shows how much hate there was between the North and south, which was so surprising because it seems like it was barely long ago that they had all been united against Great Britain and had loved their country and all of their countrymen. I think that Ambrose Bierce is trying to tell the reader about how quickly people can turn on eachother and how if people are taught to hate something enough than they well go to almost any means to destroy what they hate, even if it is in a very gruesome and heartless fashion. I believe that stories and themes like these will never grow old because people are constantly being told to hate certain groups of other people, sometimes for reasons they dont even understand. People will go to any means of trickery in order to eliminate their enemies, as shown by how Peyton was killed after being tricked into thinking that he was helping his counrty. Overall i felt that this was an extemely powerful piece of anti-war literature that gives a good insight into the feelings between soldiers of both sides and civilians during the Civil War, and if anything, it shows how they think, feel, and act just like us.