Owl Creek Bridge

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Owl Creek Bridge i “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” How is Time Perceived? John Stephens English 102 Dr. Peter Nezafati January 12, 2014 Owl Creek Bridge 1 In the story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, time is perceived as very fluid. Just like in real life, at certain points, time passes by at lightning speeds. Then at other points, it crawls along at a snail’s pace. You might say it all depends what a person is going through. By using different points of view, Ambrose Bierce distorts the forward motion of time which in turns disrupts the perception of reality. Bierce begins the story in third person, “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feel below.” (Bierce, 2014). In this point of view, the author creates reality. We can view all aspects of the situation by knowing precisely what is going on. We know that it is real. However, towards the end of the fourth paragraph, Bierce shifts to limited omniscient point of view, "He looked a moment at his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet." (Bierce, 2014). In this example, Bierce transfers from reality to Peyton Farquhars’s, the main character, thoughts and dreams making us perceive them as also reality. Then, during this exact moment, Bierce uses a ruse to shift the reader’s focus to the beginning of Farquhars’s death. “Striking through the thought of his dear ones was sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by -- it seemed both. Its recurrence was regular, but as
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