An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Essay

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Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”: Reality vs. Illusion Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” gives the reader an insight look on what is reality and what is illusion. Set during the American Civil War, Peyton Farquhar, a strong supporter of the Confederacy, is fixed to be hang to death from Owl Creek Bridge by the Union. The story opens up with Farquhar standing at the bridge’s edge. A flashback in the story reveals that a Union soldier disguised as a Confederate soldier lures Farquhar to demolish the bridge, but Farquhar is caught in the act. When Farquhar is hanged, the rope breaks, he escaped, and runs home to his beautiful wife and children. At the end, it is revealed that Farquhar never escaped and imagined everything between falling off the bridge and his last breath. Farquhar imagined a several hour event in a matter of seconds. How can someone visualize a non-realistic event in such a short period of time? What is reality? What is illusion? Merriam-Webster defines reality as the quality or state of being real and illusion as the act of deceiving. We often experience illusion during sleep and make up of various images that are necessarily drawn from reality. Imagination does not construct illusion alone. It is a phenomenon involving our perception of reality, whether it is a true representation of that reality or not. Reality is more difficult to explain because we experience reality in everyday life. It is most likely reconciled by images. As a result, imagery makes up some parts of reality. In the story, Farquhar imaged that the rope broke and he fell straight into the river. After he untied himself underwater, he came to the surface for air. The Union soldiers started to shoot their guns and fire their cannons but missed. Celebrating his escape, Farquhar hurries toward home, traveling all day through a wild

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