What is the most significant theme of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”?

Calling “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, by Ambrose Bierce, a confusing story would be an understatement. The story constantly switches between periods of time and even between reality and fiction, and while several other short stories do this as well, they are normally more overt about it. For example, part I of the story describes a man being hanged for an unspecified crime during the Civil War, while part II shows a man named Peyton Farquhar asking a soldier how he can contribute to the Southern cause. However, it is not until part III that it is revealed that Farquhar and the man being hanged are in fact the same person. In addition, the fact that almost all of part III doesn’t actually happen in the reality of the story is not revealed until the very last sentence. In my opinion, the most significant theme of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is the blending of what is real and what is not real into one.

Part I immediately sets the stage for the reader, introducing the main aspect of the story that is the execution of a man during a war. Many details about the situation are provided here: the execution is taking place on a railroad bridge above a river, and the facts that the story is taking place in Alabama and the executioners are soldiers of the Federal army allow the reader to infer that the aforementioned war is likely the Civil War and the man being executed is a Confederate. However, this is not confirmed until later in the story. Many other smaller, seemingly less significant details cause the story to seem surreal, such as the fact that the man is “about thirty-five years of age” as if not even the person telling the story knows everything about it. So far, there is no reason for the reader to doubt that anything isn’t actually real within the story, as the events thus far are relatively realistic. Still, the lack of dialogue and the fact that important details such as the main character’s name are missing cause the story to feel somewhat unnatural.

Part II provides some relief from this, as the way it is written causes the events to seem far more realistic than before. Rather than mentioning small details throughout the story, several important things are made clear at the beginning; it describes Peyton Farquhar, a politician and slave owner who leads a peaceful life in Alabama. This implies, but does not confirm, that Farquhar is the man being executed in part I. However, it also introduces a contradiction, in that while Farquhar is a firm supporter of the Southern cause, he is unable to actually join the Confederate army due to unspecified circumstances. This contradiction leaves the reader asking why Farquhar is being punished if he isn’t even in the army. Eventually, a solution to this problem rises; a passing Confederate soldier informs Farquhar that if one were to make it past the Union blockade near Owl Creek Bridge, they would be able to burn the whole thing down by setting fire to a nearby mass of driftwood. Because everything in part II thus far has been believable, there is no reason to doubt any of this information. However, as it turns out, the soldier is actually a Union spy with the intent of catching and hanging anyone in opposition of the Union, which brings us to how Farquhar got into the situation of the man being hanged in part I.

Somehow, despite part III being a continuation of where part I left off, everything that happens in this part still feels realistic. This is because the way in which the story is written feels like a combination of the first two parts, with both the small, specific details and surrealism of part I and the rigidly stated facts of part II. Because of this, Farquhar’s escape from his executioners is deceptively believable. In addition, Farquhar’s emotions and desire to live are emphasized, which also gives the reader a small amount of hope for his survival. By the time he escapes from the river, he is on the brink of death, but is urged on by thoughts of his family. This is when the story slowly returns to reality, as Farquhar’s vision of his house and wife is an obvious delusion that causes the reader to realize that he will not make it after all. Finally, the last sentence of the story abruptly confirms this suspicion with “Peyton Farquhar was dead”, revealing that the entire section was an illusion from the start. By combining two earlier introduced styles of writing, one that pays great attention to detail and one that lays out important facts at the beginning, the third part of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” creates a setting that is both believable and surreal in which there is seemingly no possibility that the entire thing never actually happened.