The
non-traditional layout of 's short story "An Occurrence at Owl Bridge" definitely
makes it more difficult to identify all of the plot structure elements. Theis particularly
difficult to discern because of the way Bierce has structured the story; the beginning of the
climax occurs as Farquhar stands on the edge of the bridge on a plank, convinced that he will
die:
"His 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"
(I).
Right at the end of Section I, the officer does step
to the side, leaving the reader to imagine that Farquhar has plunged to his death, but instead
of following though with the chronological action, the author gives the reader a flashback to
previous events, revealing how Farquhar was set up by a Union spy. The climax in this story is
that moment in which the reader wonders--does Farquhad die in the hanging, or does he escape and
return to his family? Bierce suspends the moment by providing Farquhar's imaginings to the
reader, by giving them the following action of the rope breaking and Peyton's difficult
escape.
In the end, Bierce returns to the original premise of his
climax--does Farquhar live or die? He finally addresses the outcome in the resolution of the
story, just as Peyton returns home to his wife:
"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" (III).
The climax of the story is the true turning point of the action; in
this case, even though Bierce suspends the action throughout the story, the true climax is the
moment of Farquhar's hanging and free fall.
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