FREE ESSAY ON COMPARE/CONTRAST "AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE"

COMPARE/CONTRAST "AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE"

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born in 1842 into a fairly poor family as the youngest of nine
children. He lived in a log cabin in Horse Cave Creek, Ohio as a child. The only formal
education he ever received was a single year at the Kentucky Military Institute when he
was seventeen years of age. He enlisted with the Ninth Indian Infantry as a drummer boy
in the Civil War. Then, in 1864, he was wounded and left the war to live with one of his
brothers in San Francisco. There he began his career as a newspaper writer and published
his first short story, "The Haunted Valley," in the Overland Magazine in 1871. After
marriage, Ambrose lived in London for five years. There he was accepted into the "Fleet
Street Gang," a social Parthenon of prominent authors, critics, editors, and
"pub-crawlers." After returning to the United States, he spent the year of 1880 gold
mining and shotgun riding in the Black Hills of South Dakota for Wells Fargo & Company,
but returned to his family in San Francisco. He became editor-in-chief of the weekly Wasp
with the New Year's Day edition, 1881. He went on to write many more short stories, and
his first collection, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, was published in 1891. In 1893,
Can Such Things Be? appeared, Bierce's second and most famous collection of fiction. One
of his most recognized short stories, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," was one of the
many stories included in his earliest compilations, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, and
later in the 1906 release of The Devil's Dictionary.
In the written story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," a planter, Peyton Farquhar, is
being hanged at Owl Creek Bridge in Northern Alabama. He is being hanged because he
hinted to a Federal Spy, unbeknown to him, that he planned to burn Owl Creek Bridge.
There are several differences between the written version of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek
Bridge," and the later short film version. Of course, in the written version there are
some details that are acted out which would have been very difficult to portray in a film
at the time. All of the characters are the same but some of the aspects are slightly
different or even completely opposite. 
Both the written version and the film version of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" open
up to a man about to be hanged at Owl Creek Bridge. In the original written narrative,
when Peyton looks down into the stream, and notices a drifting log. The stream seems to
slow and become very sluggish. But in the film, Peyton doesn't even glance at the stream
before the instant he is hanged. Also in the written version Peyton notices a very loud,
striking sound as he tries to concentrate on his wife and children. The noise is his own
pocket watch and the noise is so deafening because in his mind the watch, and
consequently time, is slowing down. But in the film the exact opposite occurs. As Peyton
begins to focus his thoughts on his wife and children, the watch speeds up rapidly. This
goes on in conflicting directions in both accounts until in the film version his watch is
seized by one of the officers, and in the written version his thoughts turn to those of
escape.
At this point in the written version, the sergeant steps off of the plank keeping Peyton
aloft and the story goes back in time to tell about Peyton and his family. In the written
account Peyton and his wife are sitting enjoying the evening when a grey-clad soldier
rides up and inquires about a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar goes to fetch some water and
Peyton inadvertently hints that he is planning to burn Owl Creek Bridge. The grey-clad
soldier was a Federal Spy. But in the film when the sergeant steps off of the plank,
Peyton simply falls and the rope breaks and he plunges into the water. In the written
depiction, after the interaction with the Federal spy, the story returns to Peyton
falling into the water also. Additionally, in the written account, Peyton is being hanged
so that he falls through the ties of the bridge, but in the film he is being hanged out
to the side of the bridge.
Also in the original written tale Peyton looks back after falling into the water and
freeing himself of the ties around his hands, feet, and neck and sees that one of the
sentinels firing at him has grey eyes. There is no mention of the sentinel with grey eyes
in the film. But from this point on the written and film versions are very similar if not
exactly the same. In both accounts he dodges all of the bullets and makes it out of the
water onto the sandy bank. He runs through the woods and ends up walking all night until
he finally reaches his house. Just before he reaches his wife to embrace her, he is
thrown back into reality and he swings by his neck from Owl Creek Bridge.
Many short stories have been made into short films or movies over the years. The story
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was written in 1891 by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce and
later made into a short film, which was later aired by The Twilight Zone. There are many
differences between the film and written accounts. But these differences are to be
expected, especially in the time which this film was made, because some occurrences are
more easily written than they are physically portrayed for a movie. But despite the
differences, the general idea of the story created by Bierce is not lost in the film's
account.
Bibliography
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