An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Peyton Farquhar, a wealthy civilian planter and slave owner, stands on the Alabama railroad bridge during the American Civil War. Six military men and a company of infantrymen guard the structure while carrying out his sentence. He thinks of his wife and children before a noise distracts him. It sounds like an unbearably loud clanging to his ears. This is actually the ticking of his watch. He considers jumping off the bridge if he can free his tied hands. The soldiers drop him from the bridge before he can act on that idea.
Farquhar and his wife relax at home one evening when a soldier dressed in Confederate gray rides up to their gate. Farquhar learns from this visitor that Union troops have seized the Owl Creek railroad bridge and repaired it. The soldier suggests that Farquhar might be able to burn the bridge down if he can slip past its guards. He then leaves but doubles back after nightfall to return north the way he came. The soldier is actually a disguised Union scout who has lured Farquhar into a trap. Any civilian caught interfering with the railroads will be hanged.
In a flash, Farquhar falls into the creek when the rope around his neck breaks. He frees his hands and pulls the noose away to rise to the surface. His senses now greatly sharpened as he dives and swims downstream to avoid rifle and cannon fire. Once out of range, he leaves the creek to begin the journey to his home. Farquhar walks all day through a seemingly endless forest. That night he begins to hallucinate seeing strange constellations and hearing whispered voices in an unknown language. He travels on urged by the thought of his wife and children despite the pains caused by his ordeal. The next morning he finds himself at the gate to his plantation. He rushes to embrace his wife before feeling a heavy blow upon the back of his neck. There is a loud noise and a flash of white before darkness takes him.
An 1890 short story by American writer and American Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce describes one of the most famous stories in American literature. It was originally published by the San Francisco Examiner on the 13th of July 1890. Bierce abandoned strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist. This approach serves as an early example of the stream-of-consciousness narrative mode. The story explores the concept of dying with dignity while showing that perception provides no mitigation for deaths in warfare. Farquhar experiences an intense delusion to distract him from his inevitable death. The moment of horror reflects the distortion of reality that Farquhar encounters. Readers experience the story just as the narrator does.
The real Owl Creek Bridge exists in Tennessee according to historical records. Bierce likely changed the setting to northern Alabama because the actual bridge did not have a railroad near it at the time. Gale Robert L notes this geographical shift in his 2001 book An Ambrose Bierce Companion. The author altered the landscape to fit the specific requirements of his plot involving railroads. This decision allowed him to create a believable scenario where a civilian could interfere with military infrastructure. The change demonstrates how fiction often reshapes history to serve its own narrative needs.
The plot device of subjective time passing in an instant has been explored by several authors since Bierce wrote his tale. An early literary antecedent appears in the Tang dynasty tale The Governor of Nanke by Li Gongzuo. Another medieval antecedent is Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor Chapter XII from 1335. Charles Dickens essay A Visit to Newgate has been speculated as a possible source for the story. Bierce's story may have influenced The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway and Pincher Martin by William Golding. Notable examples include H. G. Wells The Door in the Wall published in 1906 and Vladimir Nabokov Details of a Sunset from 1924. Jorge Luis Borges rewrote the concept in The Secret Miracle published in 1944.
Several adaptations of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge have been produced over decades. A silent movie adaptation titled The Spy directed in 1929 by Charles Vidor exists today. A TV version starring British actor Ronald Howard aired in 1959 during the fifth season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. La rivière du hibou released in 1963 won Best Short Subject at the Cannes Film Festival that year. It also received the 1963 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film. In 1974 CBS Radio Mystery Theater broadcast an adaptation by Sam Dann. Scottish-born composer Thea Musgrave composed a one-act radio opera broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in 1982. The 2010 Babybird music video Unloveable directed by Johnny Depp retells the story. The 2011 Grouplove music video Colours also retells the Owl Creek Bridge story.
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Common questions
Who is the protagonist in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge?
Peyton Farquhar is a wealthy civilian planter and slave owner who stands on the Alabama railroad bridge during the American Civil War. He is executed by Union soldiers after being lured into a trap by a disguised scout.
When was An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge originally published?
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was originally published by the San Francisco Examiner on the 13th of July 1890. The story describes one of the most famous tales in American literature written by Ambrose Bierce.
Where does the real Owl Creek Bridge exist according to historical records?
The real Owl Creek Bridge exists in Tennessee according to historical records. Ambrose Bierce changed the setting to northern Alabama because the actual bridge did not have a railroad near it at the time.
What narrative technique does An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge use?
Ambrose Bierce abandoned strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist. This approach serves as an early example of the stream-of-consciousness narrative mode.
Which film adaptation of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge won Best Short Subject at the Cannes Film Festival?
La rivière du hibou released in 1963 won Best Short Subject at the Cannes Film Festival that year. It also received the 1963 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.