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Ernest Hemingway's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

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Ernest Hemingway's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
War is romanticized by those who have never experienced the carnage and atrocity brought about by humankind’s worst moments. It is thought of as something larger than one’s self to serve with distinction. Civilians call those who survive, as well as those who gave all, the title of hero. War brings with it demons in many forms. There is nothing romantic about war. It encourages individuals to gamble away what they have for the possibility of something greater, which may never come to fruition. War gives you a new perspective on things. It can sometimes thin the line between reality and fantasy, which is what An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is attempting to tell the reader. The author uses the setting, conflict and symbolism to showcase …show more content…
The first place is the protagonist’s home, the second is Owl Creek Bridge and the third is the protagonist’s own mind. The order of appearance for the settings appears out of order which is appropriate for the story. It forces the reader to take a deeper consideration of the story to fully understand and piece together what is happening. The protagonist, Peyton Farquhar (601), is struggling to cope with the reality of what is occurring in real-time. Therefore, Farquhar has flashbacks to before his current incident at Owl Creek Bridge to his home in Northern Alabama (601) and escapes reality through a created scenario of his own mind (602). Meanwhile, the central conflict of wanting to become distinguished at war takes place within Farquhar …show more content…
Stylizing in the way An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is stylized gives the author the chance to trick the reader into reading multiple times to understand what is brought to the table. By breaking down the settings of Owl Creek Bridge, Farquhar’s home in Alabama and his own mind, picking apart the conflict of wanting something so much as to jump at the first opportunity and inferring the symbolism of time and fantasy, one can conclude the overarching theme of the story to be the line on which reality and fantasy
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