Topic/Objective:
Unit 3 C-note
Name: Susan Walker
Class: English 1301
Period: 2nd
Date: 15 February 2016
Essential Question:
Determine the role of the narrators and how their experiences influenced in their stories
concerning the role of women?
Questions/Main Ideas/Vocabulary
I.
“Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890) by
Ambrose Pierce (Story 1)
The narrator implements in the story his
experience during his involvement in the
Civil War.
II.
Dichotomy: a division or contrast between
two things that are or are represented as being
opposed or entirely different:
"a rigid dichotomy between science and
mysticism" synonyms: contrast · difference ·
polarity · conflict · gulf · chasm
What was the author trying to convey when
he stated “Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy
to serve him her own white hands” (2)
Notes
Biography
A. Ambrose Pierce
1. He was Born in Meigs County,
Ohio, in 1842
2. Tenth of thirteen children
3. Fought during the Civil War
and his writings were influential
by this war.
4. He wrote realism as this was
common during the late 1800s.
Characters:
A. Peyton Farquhar:
1. Well- to do planter
2. Devoted to Southern clause
3. Unable to join the Confederate
party
4. “who has a heart of soldier” (2).
B. Mrs. Farquhar:
1. Represents a comfort and
domestic security that Farquhar
seeks (end story). She also
represents that rejection of
Farquhar in search to fight the
North.
2. His affluence and bliss at home
are not enough, so he goes in
search for something that would
make his name known.
3. The thought of his wife and
children come to his head at a
time of desperation.
4. Represents an ornament in the
eyes of Farquhar in which he is
in search for a higher cause.
She is illustrated as a
stereotypical feminine ideal
C. The Northern Scout:
1.
Has a dual identity in which
sabotages Mr. Farquhar and
leads him to the Yanks.
2. Allied with the North makes
the reader and protagonist
believe otherwise.
D. The Sergeant:
1. Confederate officer
2. Not well known in the story
Confederate: a division or contrast between
two things that are or are represented as being
opposed or entirely different:
"a rigid dichotomy between science and
mysticism"/synonyms: contrast · difference ·
polarity · conflict · gulf · chasm
III.
“The intellectual part of his nature was
already effaced; he had power only to feel,
and feeling was torment” (3).
What was the author trying to convey by
making the reader believe that Farquhar live
and then changing the story to his actual
death?
What does the driftwood represent?
Plot Development:
A. Part I
1. Starts with realistic imagery, in
which the narrator describes
the moments of the man that
was get hang.
2. A variety of thoughts come to
the man’s head, in which he is
trying to find a way to get out.
3. Focuses o his thoughts so he
does not think about him
dying.
B. Part II
1. The narrator reveals the name
of the man, Peyton Farquhar.
2. Describe the man as a slave
owner, politician, and well
known family.
3. A dusty horseman comes in,
Farquhar asked if there were
any news about the Yanks.
4. The horseman stated that the
Yanks were repairing the
railroads and they were order
to hang any civilian that
interfere with the bridges,
railroads, tunnels or trains.
5. He asks the other man if there
is any way to interfere with the
yanks. He states that he can go
set up fire on piles of good at
the end of the creek.
C. Part III
1. Farquhar is unconscious a she is
in the water
2. He sees a light flickering on the
surface
3. He is afraid he is going to get
shot.
4. He was able to free his hands
and as he looks back he sees the
soldiers shoot at him.
5. He dives to avoid the shots. He
goes up again and a cannonball
lands near him and he is ejected
from the river out of sight of the
other soldiers.
6. He runs for hours until he gets
home to meet his wife. A
sudden darkness settles.
7. Farquhar dies, but his body is
hanging from the side of the
Owl Creek bridge.
D. Setting:
1. Alabama
2. Railroad, stream, fort
3. Owl Creek bridge
What was the biggest conflict that the
protagonist face?
Explain why the narrator might have decided
to manipulate the story the way he did and
choose to split the time in three parts?
E. Tone:
1. Change in tones between the
second and third part from
Tragic to Hopeful
2. The shifts of tone call attention
in the manipulation of the
narrative.
F. Theme:
1. The bridge of Reality towards
illusion
G. Conflicts:
1. There begins to be a conflict
between silence and the
strength of the sound he was
hearing.
2. “The larger life of the soldier,
the opportunity for
distinction…as it comes to all
in war time”
3. Southerners versus Yanks
H. Literary Devices:
1. “metallic percussion like the
stroke of
2. a blacksmith’s hammer upon
the anvil; it had the same
ringing quality” (2).
3. “its recurrence was regular, but
a slow as the tolling of a death
knell” (2).
4. “poignant agonies seemed to
shoot from his neck
downward through every fibre
of his body” (3).
5. Foreshadowing between the
illusion and reality through
the use of the bridge.
6. Sarcasm is involve whenever
Farquhar free his hands
unexpectedly as he reach for
air in the river.
I. Allusions:
A. Connect back to the Civil War
J. Reader’s Reaction:
A. At the beginning of the story I thought
the horse man was a Yankee; however
I doubt whenever Farquhar had a
conversation with him.
K. Questions:
A. I had trouble understanding the change
of tone in the story from part II to part
III.
Summary:
The story begins in the present where Farquhar the protagonist is about to be hang on top of
the bridge. The story is separated into three sections which are presented in foreshadowing.
One of the biggest influences in this story is that the narrator makes the reader believe that
while the action is taken place the protagonist is actually hallucinating. At the end of the story
the truth is reveal and the narrator claims that Farquhar die in the bridge in search of making
his name known. On the other hand, as he is hallucinating he pictures meeting his wife after
escaping the soldiers of the bridge. This demonstrates that at the beginning of the story
Farquhar viewed his wife as a comfort and made her inferior to what he was actually in search
of. Additionally, the narrator only presents Mrs. Farquhar a few times and only within a
domestic role.