Write an analysis that describes what you think Ambrose Bierce might have been trying to communicate to the reader about his views on the military. Use textual evidence to support your analysis. At least 3 direct quotes from the text are required.
Select at least 3 literary devices used by the author to create and maintain suspense in the story from the beginning to the end. Use textual evidence to support your selection.
I think Ambrose Bierce was communicating that the military is very direct and accurate with their dealings. That they may be cruel, but they will do whatever needs to be done to do their job and enforce law. I found three literary devices. 1)Foreshadowing. This is used when the soldier is putting the rope around the top part of the bridge. It is showing that someone is going to be hanged for something. 2)Flashback. Peyton has a flashback when he is on the bridge, just before he dies, of his wife and kids back at home. He wants to be with them, and knows he never will be again. 3)Climax. The author has a climax just before the man is hung, and I think it continues through the bit where the soldiers are shooting at him. It seems as though he will die by being hung. Then, it seems as though he will drown. After he comes up, it appears as though the soldiers will kill him by shooting him.
I think that Ambrose Bierce was portraying the military as very cruel people. People that don't care about the person thats being hanged. Just because they may have no expression on their faces and are taking orders with out hesitation, doesn't mean that they are cruel. You have no idea what could be going on in their minds. As the story progressed, I realized that Peyton Farquart actually committed a crime knowingly so it wasn't like he was being hanged for no reason. 1) Flashback - Just before Peyton was hanged he closed his eyes and had a vision of his Wife and family. He had a flashback of one of the many good times that he had with them. He longed to be with his loving family, and since he was incapable of seeing them one last time, he wanted them to be the last thing in his mind before he died. 2) Climax - I believe that the climax took place right as the rope broke and Peyton fell into the water. The climax then continued into the part where Peyton was being shot at. It was a very suspenseful scene. Not knowing if Peyton was going to get shot dead at any moment or possibly receive that slim chance of getting away. 3) Foreshadowing - Foreshadowing occurs during the first three sentences of the story. It states that a man is standing on a bridge looking down at a swift current with his hands bound behind his back, with a rope encircled around his neck. That right there is pretty much stating that this man is going to die. Being restrained and then having a rope around your neck never seems like a good sign.
I think Ambrose Bierce was trying to trying to show how machine like the military is ( The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless.) They deal with people directly and do not let personal biases get in the way- which can be a good thing, but can also be bad.I found examples of: Foreshadowing: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." Flashback: Where he thinks about the day when he decided to sabotage the Union's Railroad. Imagery- When he emerges from the water the first time and sees the world in high definition Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived
These are the three literary devices I found in the story: 1. Irony - when Peyton finally got to the beach, and rejoyced after escaping the soldiers, he hears a cannon fire off and he starts to run away again. It seems that Peyton never seems to escape the torment of the soldiers.
2. Flashback - when Peyton is about to be hanged, he thinks back to time when he was with his family and everyone was gleeful and didn't have worries.
3. Imagery - when Peyton washed ashore onto the beach after he escapes the torment of the soldiers, he imagines that the grains of sand on the beach are rubies and emeralds and that he is in a wonderful, fantasy land.
1. Flashback- When he is on the bridge, the thinks back to his family. He thinks back to when he was happy, because when he was with his kids, he was happy. 2. Personification "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention." The driftwood is an inanimate object. Yet, it is dancing. This is a human quality, with an object- which is personification. 3. Climax- the climax of the story is at the moment before he is hung, when you know he is about to die. That is when the audience has the highest point of emotion
1. Irony: The reader thinks that Peyton, after a daring escape, finally gets home to his loving family, safely. But he was actually dead, and that happened early on in the story before it was said that he had fallen into the water. "He springs forwards with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence! Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge" 2. Flashback: Just like one's life flashes before their eyes moments before their death; Peyton sees the image of his family right before he was to be hanged. He tried to relive the memory of feeling happy and loved. "He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children." 3. Foreshadowing: Just when the reader presumes that all is well and that Peyton is home safely, they get a small sign that something is actually wrong, and that was not what had happened. It created momentary suspense before Peyton's fate was revealed. "As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!"
Irony: Peyton thinks back to the good times of his life before this whole fiasco occured and he wants his last thought to be that of his wife and children. He tries to imagine them and block out the fact that he is about to get hanged. He wants to die as honest of a man as possible, even though he burned down a bridge to stop the Yankees. Just as he is about to be hanged and he is trying to focus on his wife and children, Peyton gets distracted by metallic sound that turns out to be the ticking of his watch. 'He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children' 'Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil'
Flashback: A flashback is when he thinks back to his family. As we were watching the clip, I noticed he imagined almost embracing his wife when he was jerked back to reality. Peyton wants to remember all the good and happy memories is life but he can't help thinking about his oncoming death.
Imagery: When Peyton escapes from near death, he suddenly sees everything really clearly. He sees things in different colors and notices everything around him. HE doesn't know what happened but he is just happy he is alive.
1. Flashback: Right as Peyton begins to fall from the bridge, while he is in the process of being hanged, the story has a flashback to what happened earlier to cause Peyton to be hanged, namely, his encounter with a soldier that inspired him to tamper with the bridge.
2. Imagery: As the noose breaks and Peyton falls to the river below, he is totally aware of the world around him. Emerging from the water, the narrator describes the sounds of birds and insects around him, and the bright leaves of trees.
3. Foreshadowing: As Peyton has an out-of-body experience in which he imagines himself escaping and going back to his family, the reader does not yet know that the event is purely his imagination. But the slight dreamlike quality of the events and several things that are slightly off from reality, like his encounter with his wife hint to the reader that his escape did not actually happen.
Flashback: "Peyton Farquhar 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..." This statement gives background information to the character, who is at first an anonymous figure. Knowing more about him makes the reader interested in his story.
Foreshadowing: "'If I could free my hands,' he thought, 'I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream..'" This shows foreshadowing because the reader is aware of Farquhar's daydreaming, even when his life is coming to an end. He is thinking desperate thoughts, and the reader already knows he has a wild imagination.
Imagery: "He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--he saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig." This is like poetry, it's descriptive and it makes you think. The reader is curious as to why Farquhar has the "supernatural power" to see the world in this way.
Personification: "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current." The author used this personification to his advantage and used it to prolong the scene of the man thinking and reflecting on his life.
Irony: "'Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel," said Farquhar, smiling, "what could he accomplish?' The soldier reflected. 'I was there a month ago,' he replied. 'I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow.' The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout. Ambrose Bierce used this to show why the man (Farquhar) even attempted to sabotage the bridge. This is Irony because the only reason Farquhar even thought of the bridge is because the scout inadvertently gave him an idea.
Flashback: "Peyton Farquhar 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." The author uses the flashback to give back-story of the man being hanged as well a continue the suspense of him waiting to be hanged.
1 Irony: Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge. I know this quote isn't ironic directly, but if you think about it to take almost a whole story to describe how a man escaped from the noose just to say he's actually dead IS quite ironic.
2 Imagery:"His features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat." This shows you what Farquhar looked like right before he was hanged.
3 Flashback: "He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children.: This quote not only shows that Farquhar was having a flashback, but also that he wanted to die thinking happy thoughts and that he died for something he thought was right.
Flachback-When Peyton thinks back to when the soldier came to his house and talked to him, that was a flash back. There was more of a background for the story, it tells you why he is there. Irony-Peyton chose to leave his family to go mess with the military, but later when he is being hanged all he wants is to go back home and be with his family. Foreshadowing-Before the sergeant stepped aside Peyton is thinking about being able to escape. Then in his imagination he really does escape and makes it to saftey in the forest. But that is just his imagination, he never escaped.
FORESHADOWING-"This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties." It states what would happen when the man would step aside, so you could figure that the man would move aside, to hang Peyton.
IRONY- "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." What's ironic is that the whole story went on with it seeming like Peyton was alive, and escaped, but he was dead the whole time.
FLASHBACK-"One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front." The story flashed back to when Peyton was still alive and at home, before he had been hanged.
Throughout the short story, there were several literary elements that engrossed the reader. A couple of these literary devices included imagery, flashback, exaggeration and personification.
*Imagery* -In the text, the author describes Peyton Faquhar in great detail, allowing the reader to envision the main character and give a better understanding of who the story is about. "His features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well fitting frock coat. He wore amoustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp." By this passage, I indeed was able to imagine how this character looked like in appearance. -In the text, the author describes in great detail Farquhar's surrounding after he gains his senses. The author describes the scene with different insects and animals on the strange land that Farquhar has supposedly "washed upon". The direct passage from the text stated the following, He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--he saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat--all these made audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water." By this description, I was able to think about how the scene must have appeared to Farquhar just after "escaping" death.
*Flashback* -In the story, the author describes a flashback right before Peyton Farquhar is supposedly hanged. The author states that Farquhar tried to remember his wife and child before dying. "He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children." This quote makes the mood of the story quite saddening as it tells the author of the last moments of Farquhar's life. Such a thing can envoke tears of a reader because he/she understands that Farquhar will never be able to see his family again. -Also in the text, the author breaks the story into different sections, referring back to a somewhat biography of Peyton's life and living style. The flashbacks gave a better understanding of the reason why Farquhar was to be hanged in the first place.
*Exaggeration* -In the text, in order to emphasize how tired Peyton Farquhar was after supposedly trying to escape death by the hands of the soldiers, Bierce uses the literary device of exaggeration. "...his brain was on fire..." The reader understands that such a thing could never randomly occur in the story yet he/she understands the degree of tiredness Farquhar faced.
*Personification* -Lastly, the author, Ambrose Bierce uses personification in the story. I believe that personification makes a story more interesting and piques the reader's interest to continue reading the text. One quote from the text that uses personification is when Bierce describes the driftwood and the stream. "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!" A reader should know that driftwood cannot dance (since it is an inanimate object) and that a stream cannot feel sluggish either (since it is also an inanimate object). However, these descriptions help the reader imagine and understand the story better.
Device 1: Personification: "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention."
I chose Personification because a piece of driftwood can't actually dance. It's an inanimate object doing the characteristic of a human.
Device 2: Metaphor: "Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart."
I chose this as a metaphor because a luminous cloud is being compared to his fiery heart.
Device 3: Irony: IRONY- "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."
I chose this as an example of irony because throughout the whole story it's as if he escaped, and found his way back home. It was like he was alive the whole time, but he was really dead.
Flashback:Section II of the story is a flashback to when Farquahar was getting the idea to try to go and escape. The flashback is also him remembering the last time that he saw his family. Irony: Farquahar is, for most of the story, having an out of body experience in which he thinks that he escapes, when really he is about to die an inescapable death. He goes through a giant escape in an impossible situation. This is situational irony. Personification: The piece of driftwood is 'dancing', and as everyone knows, driftwood cannot dance.
These are three literary devices that I have found within the text. IMAGERY: "The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream..." I chose this passage because Ambrose Pierce describes this image very well. I can picture it perfectly in my mind. SIMILE: "They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife," Farquhar was hearing the watch tick and it was deafening. He compares the noise to being stabbed by a knife. PERSONIFICATION: "A rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him!" A sheet of water can't actually rise and strangle a man.
Riley Edwards Language Arts-Period 3 March 9, 2011 Literary Devices to Increase Suspense 1. Time slows as Farquhar is approaching death. It takes minutes for a man to die by rope, but Farquhar drags out the time to hours. This adds suspense because if the fantasy lasted only minutes then he probably would only have gotten to being shot at originally. 2. Farquhar blurs the idea from reality to illusion. The actual quote is, “At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence! Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.” He has no concept of what is real and what isn’t making it possible for an entire story to take place without anything ever happening. 3. The color gray completely changes the outcome of the story. In normal life, gray is the color that is neutral, it could be good or bad. It means deceit from absolute truth. It means that there is no definite answer. He sees the shooter with the gray eyes and the man that lured him to his death was clad in gray.
This blog is for my students who must be registered members in order to post comments. At no time will you be allowed to comment anonymously, and all posts will be monitored and moderated before making their way to this blog.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
I think Ambrose Bierce was communicating that the military is very direct and accurate with their dealings. That they may be cruel, but they will do whatever needs to be done to do their job and enforce law. I found three literary devices.
ReplyDelete1)Foreshadowing. This is used when the soldier is putting the rope around the top part of the bridge. It is showing that someone is going to be hanged for something.
2)Flashback. Peyton has a flashback when he is on the bridge, just before he dies, of his wife and kids back at home. He wants to be with them, and knows he never will be again.
3)Climax. The author has a climax just before the man is hung, and I think it continues through the bit where the soldiers are shooting at him. It seems as though he will die by being hung. Then, it seems as though he will drown. After he comes up, it appears as though the soldiers will kill him by shooting him.
I think that Ambrose Bierce was portraying the military as very cruel people. People that don't care about the person thats being hanged. Just because they may have no expression on their faces and are taking orders with out hesitation, doesn't mean that they are cruel. You have no idea what could be going on in their minds. As the story progressed, I realized that Peyton Farquart actually committed a crime knowingly so it wasn't like he was being hanged for no reason.
ReplyDelete1) Flashback - Just before Peyton was hanged he closed his eyes and had a vision of his Wife and family. He had a flashback of one of the many good times that he had with them. He longed to be with his loving family, and since he was incapable of seeing them one last time, he wanted them to be the last thing in his mind before he died.
2) Climax - I believe that the climax took place right as the rope broke and Peyton fell into the water. The climax then continued into the part where Peyton was being shot at. It was a very suspenseful scene. Not knowing if Peyton was going to get shot dead at any moment or possibly receive that slim chance of getting away.
3) Foreshadowing - Foreshadowing occurs during the first three sentences of the story. It states that a man is standing on a bridge looking down at a swift current with his hands bound behind his back, with a rope encircled around his neck. That right there is pretty much stating that this man is going to die. Being restrained and then having a rope around your neck never seems like a good sign.
I think Ambrose Bierce was trying to trying to show how machine like the military is ( The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless.) They deal with people directly and do not let personal biases get in the way- which can be a good thing, but can also be bad.I found examples of:
ReplyDeleteForeshadowing: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."
Flashback: Where he thinks about the day when he decided to sabotage the Union's Railroad.
Imagery- When he emerges from the water the first time and sees the world in high definition Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived
These are the three literary devices I found in the story:
ReplyDelete1. Irony - when Peyton finally got to the beach, and rejoyced after escaping the soldiers, he hears a cannon fire off and he starts to run away again. It seems that Peyton never seems to escape the torment of the soldiers.
2. Flashback - when Peyton is about to be hanged, he thinks back to time when he was with his family and everyone was gleeful and didn't have worries.
3. Imagery - when Peyton washed ashore onto the beach after he escapes the torment of the soldiers, he imagines that the grains of sand on the beach are rubies and emeralds and that he is in a wonderful, fantasy land.
1. Flashback-
ReplyDeleteWhen he is on the bridge, the thinks back to his family. He thinks back to when he was happy, because when he was with his kids, he was happy.
2. Personification
"A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention."
The driftwood is an inanimate object. Yet, it is dancing. This is a human quality, with an object- which is personification.
3. Climax- the climax of the story is at the moment before he is hung, when you know he is about to die. That is when the audience has the highest point of emotion
1. Irony: The reader thinks that Peyton, after a daring escape, finally gets home to his loving family, safely. But he was actually dead, and that happened early on in the story before it was said that he had fallen into the water.
ReplyDelete"He springs forwards with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge"
2. Flashback: Just like one's life flashes before their eyes moments before their death; Peyton sees the image of his family right before he was to be hanged. He tried to relive the memory of feeling happy and loved.
"He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and
children."
3. Foreshadowing: Just when the reader presumes that all is well and that Peyton is home safely, they get a small sign that something is actually wrong, and that was not what had happened. It created momentary suspense before Peyton's fate was revealed.
"As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!"
Irony: Peyton thinks back to the good times of his life before this whole fiasco occured and he wants his last thought to be that of his wife and children. He tries to imagine them and block out the fact that he is about to get hanged. He wants to die as honest of a man as possible, even though he burned down a bridge to stop the Yankees. Just as he is about to be hanged and he is trying to focus on his wife and children, Peyton gets distracted by metallic sound that turns out to be the ticking of his watch.
ReplyDelete'He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children'
'Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil'
Flashback: A flashback is when he thinks back to his family. As we were watching the clip, I noticed he imagined almost embracing his wife when he was jerked back to reality. Peyton wants to remember all the good and happy memories is life but he can't help thinking about his oncoming death.
Imagery: When Peyton escapes from near death, he suddenly sees everything really clearly. He sees things in different colors and notices everything around him. HE doesn't know what happened but he is just happy he is alive.
Literary Devices-
ReplyDelete1. Flashback: Right as Peyton begins to fall from the bridge, while he is in the process of being hanged, the story has a flashback to what happened earlier to cause Peyton to be hanged, namely, his encounter with a soldier that inspired him to tamper with the bridge.
2. Imagery: As the noose breaks and Peyton falls to the river below, he is totally aware of the world around him. Emerging from the water, the narrator describes the sounds of birds and insects around him, and the bright leaves of trees.
3. Foreshadowing: As Peyton has an out-of-body experience in which he imagines himself escaping and going back to his family, the reader does not yet know that the event is purely his imagination. But the slight dreamlike quality of the events and several things that are slightly off from reality, like his encounter with his wife hint to the reader that his escape did not actually happen.
Literary elements:
ReplyDeleteFlashback:
"Peyton Farquhar 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..." This statement gives background information to the character, who is at first an anonymous figure. Knowing more about him makes the reader interested in his story.
Foreshadowing:
"'If I could free my hands,' he thought, 'I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream..'" This shows foreshadowing because the reader is aware of Farquhar's daydreaming, even when his life is coming to an end. He is thinking desperate thoughts, and the reader already knows he has a wild imagination.
Imagery:
"He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual
trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--he saw the very
insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray
spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig." This is like poetry, it's descriptive and it makes you think. The reader is curious as to why Farquhar has the "supernatural power" to see the world in this way.
Personification: "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current."
ReplyDeleteThe author used this personification to his advantage and used it to prolong the scene of the man thinking and reflecting on his life.
Irony: "'Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel," said Farquhar, smiling, "what could he accomplish?'
The soldier reflected. 'I was there a month ago,' he replied. 'I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow.'
The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout.
Ambrose Bierce used this to show why the man (Farquhar) even attempted to sabotage the bridge. This is Irony because the only reason Farquhar even thought of the bridge is because the scout inadvertently gave him an idea.
Flashback: "Peyton Farquhar 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."
The author uses the flashback to give back-story of the man being hanged as well a continue the suspense of him waiting to be hanged.
1 Irony: Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge. I know this quote isn't ironic directly, but if you think about it to take almost a whole story to describe how a man escaped from the noose just to say he's actually dead IS quite ironic.
ReplyDelete2 Imagery:"His features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat." This shows you what Farquhar looked like right before he was hanged.
3 Flashback: "He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children.: This quote not only shows that Farquhar was having a flashback, but also that he wanted to die thinking happy thoughts and that he died for something he thought was right.
Flachback-When Peyton thinks back to when the soldier came to his house and talked to him, that was a flash back. There was more of a background for the story, it tells you why he is there.
ReplyDeleteIrony-Peyton chose to leave his family to go mess with the military, but later when he is being hanged all he wants is to go back home and be with his family.
Foreshadowing-Before the sergeant stepped aside Peyton is thinking about being able to escape. Then in his imagination he really does escape and makes it to saftey in the forest. But that is just his imagination, he never escaped.
FORESHADOWING-"This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties." It states what would happen when the man would step aside, so you could figure that the man would move aside, to hang Peyton.
ReplyDeleteIRONY- "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." What's ironic is that the whole story went on with it seeming like Peyton was alive, and escaped, but he was dead the whole time.
FLASHBACK-"One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front." The story flashed back to when Peyton was still alive and at home, before he had been hanged.
Throughout the short story, there were several literary elements that engrossed the reader. A couple of these literary devices included imagery, flashback, exaggeration and personification.
ReplyDelete*Imagery*
-In the text, the author describes Peyton Faquhar in great detail, allowing the reader to envision the main character and give a better understanding of who the story is about. "His features were good--a
straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well fitting frock coat. He wore amoustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp." By this passage, I indeed was able to imagine how this character looked like in appearance.
-In the text, the author describes in great detail Farquhar's surrounding after he gains his senses. The author describes the scene with different insects and animals on the strange land that Farquhar has supposedly "washed upon". The direct passage from the text stated the following, He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--he saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream,
the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat--all these made
audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water." By this description, I was able to think about how the scene must have appeared to Farquhar just after "escaping" death.
*Flashback*
-In the story, the author describes a flashback right before Peyton Farquhar is supposedly hanged. The author states that Farquhar tried to remember his wife and child before dying. "He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and
children." This quote makes the mood of the story quite saddening as it tells the author of the last moments of Farquhar's life. Such a thing can envoke tears of a reader because he/she understands that Farquhar will never be able to see his family again.
-Also in the text, the author breaks the story into different sections, referring back to a somewhat biography of Peyton's life and living style. The flashbacks gave a better understanding of the reason why Farquhar was to be hanged in the first place.
*Exaggeration*
-In the text, in order to emphasize how tired Peyton Farquhar was after supposedly trying to escape death by the hands of the soldiers, Bierce uses the literary device of exaggeration. "...his brain was on fire..." The reader understands that such a thing could never randomly occur in the story yet he/she understands the degree of tiredness Farquhar faced.
*Personification*
-Lastly, the author, Ambrose Bierce uses personification in the story. I believe that personification makes a story more interesting and piques the reader's interest to continue reading the text. One quote from the text that uses personification is when Bierce describes the driftwood and the stream. "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!" A reader should know that driftwood cannot dance (since it is an inanimate object) and that a stream cannot feel sluggish either (since it is also an inanimate object). However, these descriptions help the reader imagine and understand the story better.
Device 1: Personification: "A piece of dancing
ReplyDeletedriftwood caught his attention."
I chose Personification because a piece of driftwood can't actually dance. It's an inanimate object doing the characteristic of a human.
Device 2: Metaphor: "Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart."
I chose this as a metaphor because a luminous cloud is being compared to his fiery heart.
Device 3: Irony: IRONY- "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."
I chose this as an example of irony because throughout the whole story it's as if he escaped, and found his way back home. It was like he was alive the whole time, but he was really dead.
Flashback:Section II of the story is a flashback to when Farquahar was getting the idea to try to go and escape. The flashback is also him remembering the last time that he saw his family.
ReplyDeleteIrony: Farquahar is, for most of the story, having an out of body experience in which he thinks that he escapes, when really he is about to die an inescapable death. He goes through a giant escape in an impossible situation. This is situational irony.
Personification: The piece of driftwood is 'dancing', and as everyone knows, driftwood cannot dance.
These are three literary devices that I have found within the text.
ReplyDeleteIMAGERY: "The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream..."
I chose this passage because Ambrose Pierce describes this image very well. I can picture it perfectly in my mind.
SIMILE: "They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife,"
Farquhar was hearing the watch tick and it was deafening. He compares the noise to being stabbed by a knife.
PERSONIFICATION: "A rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him!"
A sheet of water can't actually rise and strangle a man.
Riley Edwards
ReplyDeleteLanguage Arts-Period 3
March 9, 2011
Literary Devices to Increase Suspense
1. Time slows as Farquhar is approaching death. It takes minutes for a man to die by rope, but Farquhar drags out the time to hours. This adds suspense because if the fantasy lasted only minutes then he probably would only have gotten to being shot at originally.
2. Farquhar blurs the idea from reality to illusion. The actual quote is,
“At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.” He has no concept of what is real and what isn’t making it possible for an entire story to take place without anything ever happening.
3. The color gray completely changes the outcome of the story. In normal life, gray is the color that is neutral, it could be good or bad. It means deceit from absolute truth. It means that there is no definite answer. He sees the shooter with the gray eyes and the man that lured him to his death was clad in gray.