Throughout the short story, Peyton Farquhar
is waiting to be hanged by the Union soldiers stationed at Owl Creek bridge. While Peyton is
getting ready to die, he reflects on his life and dreams about escaping.presents Farquhar's
dreams of escaping to be reality and the reader believes that Peyton has amazingly found a way
to escape his fate. In Peyton's daydream, he falls through the bridge, loses consciousness, and
is able to avoid being shot as he swims to freedom. However, Bierce ends the story with a twist.
In one short, declarative statement, he writes,
"Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to
side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge" (6).
It turns out that Peyton Farquhar was simply imagining his escape and ends up being
hanged. Bierce slows down time throughout the story which leads the reader to believe that the
events taking place happen over a longer period of time than they do in Peyton's mind. Peyton
Farquhar's hanging actually happens in minutes and he ends up dying at the end of the
story.
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