An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

The story I will be reflecting over is called “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. The story was originally published and written in 1890. This means it was after the Civil war, yet there still some friction between the north and the south. For instance in the story he refers to the soldiers who are giving him the death sentence as being from the north. "Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners--two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff." (Bierce) When it talks of the Federal army it is referring to those from the north. It is also told that he is a man from the south and keeps the ideas that many southerners had in this time, which was very much opposite of the Norths. "Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause" (Bierce) This definitely leads you to believing that that is what he is being prosecuted for, or something he has done to the northerners for that matter. This idea of the civil war persecution is very similar to the ideas of Thoreau because it is a very politically touchy subject which most authors would struggle writing because of taking it to far. Thoreau on the other hand, along with Bierce managed to accomplish this with little scrutiny compared to others who were knee deep in politically sketchy topics. One critic talks about how Bierce served in the civil army himself which is more likely where he gets his realistic writing ideas from, which is very praise-able work. He wrote this "Having served in the Civil War himself, Bierce was ideally suited to portray the plight of ordinary soldiers of that period, and the majority of his stories, supernatural and otherwise, are linked to that conflict."(D'Ammassa) about Bierce in his criticism. The whole story is very theatrical with lots of vivid descriptions giving it a very well developed picture which was much like Emerson's writings, who was very into details in his own writings. The story itself portrays a very good picture of political happenings in the past without it being to documentary and still having credible ideas to it.


D'Ammassa, Don. "'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'." Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EFHF0384&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 18, 2012).
Bierce, Ambrose. "Fiction: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Fiction: Welcome to The EServer's Fiction Collection. EServer. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. .