Ambrose Bierce has himself figured as a character in literary works. Carlos Fuentes, Mexican fiction writer important in world literature, used Bierce as a main character in the novel The Old Gringo (1985), subsequently made into a feature motion picture (1989), starring (among others) Gregory Peck, Jane Fonda, and Jimmy Smits. Recently, Bierce has been transformed into a detective hero in the mystery novels of Oakley Hall.

Vocabulary (asterisks indicate words used in a sense unfamiliar to some readers): sleepers* (par. 1), remove* [noun] (par. 1), sentinel (par. 1), carriage* (par. 1), blockaded (par. 1), traversed (par. 1), acclivity (par. 2), stockade* (par. 2), loopholed* (par. 2), embrasure (par. 2), protruded (par. 2), inclining* (par. 2), excepting (par. 2), stonily (par. 2), adorn (par. 2), subordinates (par. 2), manifestations (par. 2), etiquette (par. 2), fixity (par. 2), deference (par. 2), habit* (par. 3), frock coat (par. 3), hemp (par. 3), vulgar* (par. 3), unsteadfast (par. 4), cross-ties (par. 4), commended (par. 4), brooding (par. 5), percussion (par. 5), anvil (par. 5), (death) knell (par. 5), apprehension (par. 5), shriek (par. 5), evade (par. 6), secessionist (par. 8), ardently (par. 8), imperious (par. 8), gallant (par. 8), chafed* (par. 8), perilous (par. 8), undertake (par. 8), qualification* (par. 8), assented (par. 8), dictum (par. 8), rustic (par. 9), picket* (par. 14), tow* [noun] (par. 16), poignant (par. 18), keen* (par. 18), ramification (par. 18), torment [noun] (par. 18), effaced (par. 18), luminous (par. 18), ludicrous (par. 18), arcs (par. 18), oscillation (par. 18), pendulum (par. 18), strangulation (par. 18), apprized (par. 19, par. 30), endeavor (par. 19), undulations (par. 19), succeeded* (par. 19), dire(st) (par. 19), pang (par. 19), racked (par. 19), wrenched (par. 19), insupportable (par. 19), convulsively (par. 19), draught (par. 19), preternaturally (par. 20), keen (par. 20), awful* (par. 20), exalted (par. 20), prismatic (par. 20), audible (par. 20), eddies (par. 20), pivotal (par. 21), silhouette (par. 21), gesticulated (par. 21), grotesque (par. 21), report* (par. 22, par. 30), smartly* (par. 22), aspirated (par. 23), intonation (par. 23), presaging (par. 23), tranquility (par. 23), measured* (par. 23), intervals (par. 23), singularly (par. 25), oscillating (par. 25), perceptibly (par. 26), ramrods (par. 26), ineffectually (par. 26), martinet (par. 28), volley (par. 28), plash (par. 29), diminuendo (par. 29), commotion (par. 29), smitten* (par. 29), deflected (par. 29), charge* (par. 30), grape* (par. 30), missile* (par. 30), vortex (par. 31), velocity (par. 31), gyration (par. 31), giddy (par. 31), arrest* (par. 31), abrasion (par. 31), roseate (par. 31), Aeolian harps (par. 31), baffled (par. 32), grapeshot (par. 32), interminable (par. 33), uncanny (par. 33), famishing (par. 34), habitation (par. 34), perspective* (par. 34), rift (par. 34), malign (par. 34), singular* (par. 34), turf (par. 35), delirium (par. 36), ineffable (par. 36)
 

A. How the cartoon drawing to illustrate point of view in Ch. 5 occurs in literature can be found in the New Testament Gospels.  Although they vaguely know "the" story of the Gospels, many Christians are unaware of significant differences in details in parallel passages, or differences among the Gospels in material (incidents, persons, parables, etc.) included in one or more of the Gospels but not in one or more of the other Gospels.  A good example can be found by studying a "Conspectus" (parallel viewing of passages) of the account of the arrest of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Click here.

1. How is each of the three sections of the story (section I = pars. 1-7; section II = paras. 8-17; section III = pars. 18-37) a definite, articulated content and temporal (relating to time) unit?

2. (a) How is the title of this short story related to point of view? (b) How would the use of the definite article ("the") rather than indefinite article ("an") change the meaning and point of view of the title -- that is, "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" rather than "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"? (c) How could a more definite or specific word than "occurrence" be used in the title, with reference to what the main action of the story involves? What point of view would be involved with the choice of this more specific and definite word (rather than "occurrence"), and what thematic effects would be lost through using the more definite or specific word rather than the more general or abstract word? (d) What irony occurs in the site chosen for the hanging, with reference to what the chief character had planned?

3. (a) What point of view is involved with identifying the protagonist of the story as "a man" or "the man" in section I, rather than his name, used from section II, onward? (b) What point of view inheres in the narrator's use of the word "apparently" in sentence 1, par. 3? (c) What other qualifying or limiting words are used in sentence 2, par. 3, comparable to the one referred to in question 2b, and what point of view is conveyed?

4. (a) How does the point of view begin to change or shift in pars. 4-7? (b) How does the point of view change or shift in the story's last paragraph (par. 37)? (c) What themes, ideas, and effects do Bierce's shifts in point of view help convey?

5. (a) How does the technical term used for the railroad track supports (sentence 5, par. 1: "Some loose boards laid upon the . . . ") relate to the themes and use of point of view in the story? (b) How does what happens to the attention of the protagonist (shifting to the swirling stream, and then to a piece of dancing driftwood [par. 4]) relate symbolically or more broadly to what is going on in him psychologically?

6. (a) How is the wording of "Being a slave . . . politician" (the first part of sentence 2, par. 8) ironic? What ideas are implied rather than stated that connect why a slave owner would automatically be a politician? (b) How is Peyton Farquhar's "longing . . . for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier" (par. 8) ironic, with reference to sections I and sections III of the story?

7. (a) What is the difference in point of view between (1) "a confederate soldier rode up to the gate" and (2) "a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate" (par. 9)? (b) Why did Bierce have the narrator use the second choice rather than the first choice of words or phrasing? (c) How is the perception of the protagonist and protagonist's wife, with regard to the "gray-clad soldier," similar to the perception of the protagonist generally in sections I and III? (d) How might Bierce fool many readers in this instance, and how does Bierce's fooling of the reader help convey any of the story's themes or relate to what is going on within the protagonist? (e) Look up the term agent provocateur in your collegiate dictionary; how does the term apply in section II?

8. What ideas or themes are suggested by the word choice, phrasing, and imagery in the description of how Mrs. Farquhar wants to oblige the Confederate soldier who has asked for a drink: "Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands" (par. 9)?

9. (a) How does Bierce manipulate point of view and fool the reader through the use of a simile, and the explicit word "as," in the narrator's reference to Peyton Farquhar having "lost consciousness and was as one already dead" (sentence 1, par. 18)? (b) How does this instance parallel the fooling referred to in par. 9, referred to in the immediately preceding study question? (C) How does Bierce's fooling of the reader help convey any of the story's themes or relate to what is going on within the protagonist?

10. (a) What does Peyton Farquhar mean when he refers to "a . . . student of hanging" who might "elude the picket post and . . . get the better of the sentinel" (par. 16)? (b) What ironic meaning -- a meaning unintended by Farquhar -- does "a . . . student of hanging" (par. 16) have (with reference to the whole short story), different from what is referred to in study question 9a?

11. (a) How are the words "appeared" and "seemed" crucial and thematic in par. 18 (the first paragraph of section III)? How do they relate to point of view, and how do they relate to the story's irony and portrayal of psychological processes? (b1) What figure of speech is used in "he swung . . . like a vast pendulum" (par. 18)? (b2) How does this figure of speech help convey any of the stories ideas or themes? (c) What irony occurs in Peyton Farquhar's use of the word and thinking about the concept of "fair" (last sentence of par. 18)?

12. Many exclamation points occur in paragraphs 18-19. (a) Technically, what kind of sentence ends with this mark of punctuation? (b) What do the punctuation mark and kind of sentence help convey about point of view, tone, and psychology in these paragraphs?

13. (a) Where does the imagery of light and dark occur in paragraphs 18-19? (b) How does this imagery help convey aspects of the protagonist's physical and psychological conditions?

14. (a) How are the statement and metaphor in the clause "in a moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round, himself the pivotal point" (sentence 1, par. 21) a kind of signature passage, simultaneously revealing Farquhar's perception of events and at the same time a different reality? (b) How do the verbs in "he looked" (par. 20), "he noted" (par. 20), "he saw" (par. 21), "he observed" (par. 22), and the repeated reference to the eye (pars. 20-22) relate to study question 13a? (c1) What figure of speech is dominant in sentences 1-2 of par. 31? (c2) How does this figure of speech relate to study question 13a, above? (c3) How does the imagery in "vortex . . . whirled . . . gyration" (sentence 4, par. 31) relate to the pattern noted in study question 13? (d1) The primary meaning of the word "perspective" (par. 34), as used by the narrator from Farquhar's point of view, is a technical term in art; what is this technical meaning, according to your collegiate dictionary? (d2) What psychological meaning and application does the word have, as applied to Farquhar (but unknown by him), as related to study question 13 overall?

15. (a) What hints of delusion or hallucination (and psychological or physiological overtones or causes) occur in the details and imagery of the last three sentences of par. 31? (b) What hints of delusion or hallucination (and psychological or physiological overtones or causes) occur in the wording of the last two sentences of par. 33? (c) How do study questions 14a and 14b apply to the last three sentences of par. 34?

16. How is the continual, repeated escaping by Farquhar in paragraphs 19-32 ironic?

17. (a1) Where does the imagery of light or dark occur throughout the story? (a2) How does this recurrent imagery help convey any of the story's ideas or themes or portrayal of character (especially of psychological processes)? (b1) Where does the imagery of heat or cold occur throughout the story? (b2) How does this recurrent imagery help convey any of the story's ideas or themes or portrayal of character (especially of psychological processes)?