An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

In this clip, everything is back in normal pace (in contrast to the last clip). This shows Peyton’s realization that he is in danger and that time won’t wait around for him. Also the ending shot where the camera is pointed upward at the trees and is spinning around is very interesting, although I can’t really figure out what the filmmaker was trying to portray. Any thoughts?

I know that voices that are slowed down sound deeper, but in this clip the voices of the soldiers almost sound demonic. There is a huge contrast with the previous clip, where there was soothing music and the sounds of nature. I also noticed the shot where the camera zooms in on the eye of (I am assuming) the marksman, probably to portray his gray eyes. However, I don’t think that the audience who watches this clip would notice that they were gray.

The music in this clip is very important and very appropriate because the singer sings about a living man and appreciating the smallest things more fully, which is how Peyton feels after he gets to the surface. The zooming in on different nature scenes parallels Bierce’s description of details that Peyton notices after his near-death experience.

I also noticed the lack of any loud sounds/music. I think the filmmaker did this on purpose so that the audience would focus on the events. Also I think that this video clip does not portray well what the written story says, in that it does not show that Peyton “was not conscious of an effort,” that his hands were working by themselves and he felt detached from his body.

I agree with Dan that this scene is done very well. The filmmaker uses a certain blurring of the edges to portray Peyton’s daydream about his wife so that the audience realizes it is fantasy. The sound seems crucial in this scene because it is used to build tension as the audience anticipates what is about to happen.

The director tries to show the situation from Peyton’s perspective by zooming in on objects and people all around him as if Peyton’s looking around and trying to assess his situation. His looking down at the plank and the river makes the audience feel his fear. Overall, this entire scene makes the audience sympathize with Peyton.

The fact that Farquhar was “flung upon the gravel [...] behind a projecting point which concealed him from his enemies” shows how lucky he is. This scene could also be interpreted as divine intervention. Someone had helped him out; it is miraculous that the man has survived for this long. However, we should also remember that this is all fantasy and this is only how Farquhar wish everything had happened.

I think Bierce’s use of the word “hunted” is significant, because it brings to mind the hunting of animals. It is almost as if the war has turn men into animals whose lives are unimportant and can be easily taken away.

I was surprised by the fact that assuming this was all imagined by Farquhar that he can imagine that much detail. Usually my dreams do not include such specifics. This could be another technique Bierce uses to fool the reader.

I see this paragraph as a strange separation of body and mind. Farquhar’s hands seem to be moving on their own and he watches on like a detached observer. Also, the descriptions remind me of what I would imagine hell to be like; the agony that the character feels is overwhelming.

I think that on first reading of this paragraph, most people have no idea that this is fantasy. Only on second reading can the reader see Bierce’s frequent use of verbs like “seemed” and “appeared” and just the general sense of the situation being too extreme to be true. The reader wants to be fooled.

This paragraph basically explains Farquhar’s fate. He is quick to jump the gun and do anything that might hurt the Yankees; this rashness costs him his life.

The first time I read this story, I did not catch the significance of the soldier being a Federal scout. However, now this seems to be a crucial part in the story, because it is assumed that he tipped off the Yankees at Owl Creek Bridge. I am also wondering if the story of Farquhar was not unique. Maybe the scout went to other such plantations and tricked other Confederates to come to the bridge and get killed.

This is the paragraph where, as Hal Holladay points out, “the trap is set.” By giving Farquhar the idea of burning down Owl Creek Bridge, the soldier slyly lures him into Yankee territory, where he will be mercilessly killed by his enemies.

I agree with Rebecca that a “student of hanging” might reveal Farquhar’s familiarity with hanging, implying that he thinks he can outwit the Yankees. Also, for me this phrase brings up images of people being hanged for racial reasons (although I guess historically this happened later than the time of the story), and it seems that Farquhar is one of those people that views hanging as the rule of the land.

I agree with Rachel that the phrase “with her own white hands” is significant. I believe that Bierce used this phrase to serve as a reminder that the war is a war of race, that white hands will do anything to support the Confederates and keep their slaves.

This paragraph actually does not make me like Farquhar that much. Although he is very dedicated to what he believes in and is very loyal to his land, he is a slave owner and is doing all he can to keep the status quo. He also “suffers from the illusion that war provides opportunities for glory” (Hal Holladay) while in reality it is a horrible event that ruins thousands of lives.

In his essay on “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Hal Holladay writes, “The grotesque reality, the horror, of war was one of [Bierce's] persistent themes. There is nothing glorious in Bierce’s depiction of the war; the Union army is cold, efficient, and deceitful.” This trend is particularly evident in the last sentence of this paragraph, which shows that no one is spared in war.

The tone in this paragraph is detached and unemotional. It seems that the captain’s nod is too simple of a motion to approve somebody’s death. He does it with no feeling, and the sergeant just does the simple mechanical motion of stepping to the side. The executioners treat this as simple procedure, something that needs to be done with as little mess as possible.

I definitely did not even notice that the story said “trust of a knife”; I kept reading it as the “thrust of a knife,” which conjured up violent images in my mind. It is almost like time and the watch are Farquhar’s assassins. Each second is a painful jab at the remnants of his life.

I think that the wording “the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank” implies that although they hold very different positions in this life, both the sergeant and Farquhar are on the “plank,” meaning they will both have to face death sometime and this end is inescapable.

The use of the words “spectators” and “parade” makes me think of this scene as a show, as if the execution of Farquhar is some form of entertainment for the soldiers. At the same time, the soldiers are like “statues [...] staring stonily” and again, like in the first paragraph, I get the sense that the soldiers are trying to distance themselves emotionally from this event.

In his essay “Beating the bounds with Ambrose Bierce; or, Learning to read without getting shot,” William Conlogue calls this final paragraph a “verbal slap[...] in the face [consisting of] carefully arranged mechanisms sprung on careless readers to reveal to them their own naivete.” This sentence makes the readers “uncomfortably retrace, characters’ uncertain situations, and in doing so, readjust their reading.”

The fact that the duty of these men does not involve knowing what is “occurring at the center of the bridge” demonstrates how even soldiers try to distance themselves from death. If they do not think about what is going on, the loss of a life is not going to affect them greatly; they will not have to deal with this gruesome event emotionally. The sense of personal responsibility is gone.