"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"," by Ambrose Bierce, was published in 1890 and depicts the inner workings of a man's thoughts and values just prior to being executed by way of hanging. The story became a literary success, presenting readers with a clear and detailed account of life during a time of war. Adding to the novel's appeal is the well-written and wonderfully tense conclusion when Peyton Farquhar, a Southern planter, is hung by the Federal Army for trying to burn the Owl Creek Bridge, thus foiling their attempts at advancement. Farquhar seems to escape right before the rope snaps his neck and embarks on a beautiful, action filled quest to stay alive. .
The story seems like a fairy tale until Bierce depicts, in the last line, that Farquhar never escaped and the quest was, indeed, just a dead man's dream. The carefully thought out descriptions, the excellent literary details, and the protagonist being someone relatible, make the story incredibly realistic. .
The realistic approach of Ambrose Bierce is captured mostly by his personal documentation of wartime thus the closely accurate descriptions. Ambrose Bierce was passionate about being a civil war journalist, and was known so his gruesome depictions of wart. With that skill set under his belt, Bierce is able to make "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" an accurate external description, from observation and documentation, a subjective view of human nature which is ethically ideal and a clear example of literary realism.
In, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"", the brightest depiction of realism is the eerie detail of every aspect in nature and Civil War life. Donald Pizer (Author and Tulane English Professor) defines realism as: "detail derived from observation and documentation and ethically idealistic in human nature and experience " (Pizer 4). Bierce was a member of the armed forces and of his stories seems to reenact "the central experience of his life, The Civil War" (Lahood 89).
