The Influence of Ambrose Bierce’s Life On His Story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
On July 13, 1890, the San Francisco Examiner published the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88) by Ambrose Bierce. The setting of the story takes readers to the time of the Civil War, in the state of Alabama. The story contains three parts. In the first part, Northern soldiers are ready to hang a Southern planter Peyton Farquhar, who is the main character, yet Farquhar thinks about escape. The second part is a flashback of Farquhar’s life; the author shows the circumstances that took Farquhar to his execution. In the third part, the story takes readers back to the Owl Creek Bridge; however, the rope breaks, and Farquhar escapes. He comes back home and is happy to hug his wife, but he feels a strike in his neck, and the story ends with the words: “Peyton Farquhar was dead, his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 93). The plot of the story was influenced by Bierce’s life.
Ambrose Bierce was born into a planter family in 1842, in the state of Ohio. At the age of fifteen, Bierce left home. He lived with his uncle, who encouraged Bierce to enroll in the Kentucky Military Institute, which Bierce did not finish. At that time, a military career promised great capabilities for the youth who did not have much money. “In 1861, Bierce joined the Ninth Indiana Infantry” (Boysen, Polukis). In 1866, Bierce was injured and went back to civilian life. Bierce’s writing career began as a journalist; in addition, his war experience gave him ideas for literary works which become very popular. Bierce’s best-known story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88) reflects the historical context of his life, his sarcastic and romantic character.
The historical context of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88) was influenced by Bierce’s life. The Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865. The war years did not pass without leaving a trace; war changed people and the social environment. The Civil War was especially difficult because “…brother turned against brother, where soldiers were ordered to kill their fellow-countryman and destroy property not in a foreign field but in their own land” (Joshi). When Bierce was nineteen years old, it was the time of the Civil War, and he joined the Ninth Indiana Infantry. “For the next four years he fought for Federal troops in many battles including the battle of Shiloh, Pickett’s Mill, Chickamauga” (Muniz). Also, he was “…captured by and escaping from the Confederates in 1864” (Joshi). The war gave Bierce great experience in the comprehension of the fragility of life and the unpredictability of death. Undoubtedly, the terror and horror of the war went through Bierce’s eyes, and that is why Bierce provided his war experience in his stories. “A New York Tribune Reviewer noted, Bierce’s stories are ‘elaborated pictures of what the American soldier actually experienced in the great war (Civil War)’” (Partington).
The setting of the story “An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88) takes readers to Civil War time, on the railroad bridge at Owl Creek. Peyton Farquhar is a Southern planter who was not able to join the Confederate troops, but he wanted to help them anyway. Like Bierce, Farquhar was captured by enemy troops, and he dreamt of escaping because it is the human need to escape death. Bierce describes in detail the actions and environment. In the story, “Critics note that Bierce utilizes a myriad of details and military terminology to create an almost handbook description of how to hang a man” (“An Occurrence- Introduction”), and those details create the ambience of reality. Description in fiction is “…words that cause readers to imagine or re-create the scenes and actions of a story” (Roberts, Zweig 78). Bierce uses realistic language. The realism of war is death. Death does not care if a person is a Southerner or a Northerner, it just comes, and Bierce knew it from his war experience, and he used death as a tool to highlight the harsh reality of war. Farquhar dies from being hung, “the very real, shocking ending is a representation of realism because the truth is that we can die in an instant” (Midori, Deepak, and Ho). Thereby, Bierce submerges readers into the reality of war where readers see the terror and horror of war that Bierce endured through Farquhar’s eyes.
Moreover, the realism of death and destruction brought by war, and Bierce’s interest in Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection influenced him in deciding Farquhar’s fate. According to Charles Darwin, the father of the study of natural selection, “Natural selection occurs when some individuals of a species are better able to survive in their environment and reproduce than others” (Wolkowitz 136). So, Bierce demonstrates clearly that “The ‘fittest’ in ‘Owl Creek’ are the Northerners; they hold the advantage over Farquhar” (Midori, Deepak, and Ho). If Farquhar represents the South, then his death symbolizes defeat for the Southern troops. Scholars have noticed that since Bierce chose war episodes, he became “grim and pessimistic”; although, “Bierce’s war years must have contributed to his dark vision and methontropic attitude” (Ibarrola-Armendariz 181).
Next, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88) demonstrates Bierce’s sarcastic nature. “Bitter Bierce” is a nickname he earned because of “…his harsh social criticism and sardonic view of human nature” (Moore). However, “…no one who knew Bierce in the past war years would deny his public fury and harsh criticism” (Johnson). Sarcasm is “unpleasant remarks intended to hurt a person’s feelings. It is a harsh or bitter derision or irony” (“Sarcasm”). On the other hand, irony is “A major aspect of literal tone, reflects to language and situation that seem to reverse normal expectations” (Roberts, Zweig 79).
In the story, Bierce’s sarcastic character is reflected as irony. “Irony is a tool to distinguish between delusions and reality or use it to show the actual ironic nature of reality itself” (Midori, Deepak, and Ho). Bierce uses two kinds of irony: situational and verbal. Situational irony is “…a circumstance in which bad things happen to good people” (Roberts, Zweig 79), whereas verbal irony is “the opposite of what is said” (Roberts, Zweig 79). For example, Farquhar was not able to join the Confederate army; yet, he wants to help them. Farquhar blindly believes the scout, and he is ready to go to the bridge and possibly become a hero! However, Farquhar is not a hero, but he is a target for irony. Farquhar does not expect to be captured by Federal troops, but here is a situational irony: he is captured. Next, the verbal irony is that Farquhar is duped by the Federal scout, but he realizes it too late. “Bierce subtly and ironically delineates Farquhar’s naively unrealistic view of war, contrasting it with warfare’s harsh truth” (“An Occurrence- The Portrayal”).
Also, Bierce uses irony toward readers. Bierce prepares readers to trust him. He wants readers to believe that Farquhar has escaped. Bierce builds a realistic environment, and uses the third person limited narrator which is “third-person pronoun, with the focus being on one particular character and what he or she does, says, hears, thinks, and experiences” (Roberts, Zweig 77). The third person limited narrator is Farquhar, and he directs readers to the reality that he experienced. Farquhar’s rope has broken and he is able to escape home, back to his family. On the way home, Farquhar experiences harsh conditions, and Bierce shows Farquhar’s surrounding environment in a vivid and romantic way. That is why readers believe in Farquhar’s escape. Ironically, the grotesque ending is that Farquhar’s escape is only a couple of seconds of his imagination before death. Bierce’s irony is a key to highlight realism that represents death.
Furthermore, Bierce has not only a sarcastic character, but also a romantic character. “Bierce went to war with sentimentality and emotion because of his own romanticism” (Johnson). He was a nineteen-year-old farm boy, full of enthusiasm and romantic thoughts about the war. He probably dreamed about becoming a hero and making a great difference at war. His romantic thoughts about the war did not disappear even after the war. “Increasingly, Bierce began to long nostalgically for the war days, when, despite the death, he had been sure of himself as a man” (Johnson). Therefore, the romanticism and nostalgia of war time lead Bierce to write war stories.
Bierce’s romantic nature is revealed in Farquhar’s delusions. Like Bierce, Farquhar has romantic thoughts about war. Farquhar’s romanticism about war appear in phrases like: “gallant army,” “no adventure too perilous,” “opportunity of distinction,” “larger life of the solder” (Roberts, Zweig 88-91). Those words reflect his romantic view of war. Next, Farquhar has delusions about escape. Bierce’s vivid picture about the environment that Farquhar sees is a reflection of Bierce’s romantic character. Farquhar’s romantic nature takes him to the bridge where ironically he found his death. The same destiny waits for Bierce.
Bierce’s romanticizing of war takes him to Mexico, right at the beginning of the Mexican revolution. “When asked why he was heading down to Mexico to observe the revolution taking place, Bierce replied simply, ‘I like fighting’” (Johnson). It is no wonder that Bierce went to Mexico because the romance of war is a part of his character. In the years following the Civil War, Bierce grows increasingly nostalgic for that time. His romantic spirit calls him for new adventures where Bierce can feel like a man. “Bierce’s daughter later would comment that her father was an arid student of war and loved studying fighting” (Johnson). In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88), Farquhar has a romantic character, but Bierce uses irony against it; therefore, Bierce shows that romantic delusions are a mask that covers the reality of horror and death. Ironically, this scenario acts toward Bierce’s romantic nature. The romanticism of war brings Bierce to the Mexican Revolution where he finds his death.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88) is the most famous work by Ambrose Bierce. This story reflects the historical context of Bierce’s life, his sarcastic character, and his romantic nature. When Bierce joined the Federal troops and fought on the battlefield for four years during the Civil War, he got great experience of human nature and the reality of life. His sarcastic character is demonstrated in the story as irony which reflects the reality of life. Bierce’s reality is war, and he knows from his experience that the reality of war is death. Because Bierce has a romantic character, he is able to create a romantic environment that misleads readers from reality in his story. That is why readers are shocked at the end of the story when the author ironically returns readers back to the harsh reality where Farquhar is dead. Also, Bierce’s romantic nature leads him to Mexico where he finds his death, ironically follows the same scenario as “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Roberts, Zweig 88).
Work Cited
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