An Occurrence At Owl Creek

Realism is seeing things for what they really are. An Occurrence At Owl Creek represents Realism in a few different ways. An Occurrence At Owl Creek is about a man who has been captured during the Civil War and is about to be hanged by being pushed off a railroad track with a river running beneath it. The man imagines himself escaping from his terrible fate which is the part of the story that represents realism. He tries to think of a real and somewhat easy way to escape.

"He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. "If I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance" (Bierce).

As said from a source from Bloom's Literary Reference Online:

"The second part of the story describes the events that have led up to the hanging: induced to the action by a disguised Union soldier, Farquhar has attempted to sabotage the bridge and has been captured. In the next section Farquhar's rope breaks, and he falls into the water, ultimately swimming to safety through volleys of gunfire. As he travels through the forest at night, he begins to experience strange psychological phenomena. In a memorable twist at the end of the story, it is revealed that Farquhar has imagined his entire escape in the brief time between his being pushed from the bridge and the noose's breaking his neck. The story is lauded for its intensive psychological examination of a mind facing death in wartime" (Renfro).

Realism is also describing the everyday life of a middle class or lower class citizen.

"Peyton Fahrquhar was a well to do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. That opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in wartime. Meanwhile he did what he could. No service was too humble for him to perform in the aid of the South, no adventure to perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war" (Bierce).

This quote represents Realism because it helps to describe the somewhat everyday life of a middle class man. It helps the reader to see how he could end up being hung, and it lets the reader know that he is either middle or lower class because he can not participate in the war.

Works Cited:

Bierce, Ambrose. "An Occurrence At Owl Creek". Page By Page Books. 18 Jan 2011. http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Ambrose_Bierce/An_Occurrence_At_Owl_Creek_Bridge/II_p1.html.

Renfro, Y. P. "'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL0691&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 18, 2011).