An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

One of the most prolific and famous authors of the 19th century, Ambrose Bierce published "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in the San Francisco Examiner in 1890. It has since been acclaimed as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature." The literary style which sets this story apart is its irregular time sequence and twist ending -- but almost revolutionary for its time is the form of narrative; instead of a formal linear narration (with a 3rd person narration of events falling in predictable order of real time), Bierce’s narration takes place from within the mind of the protagonist, allowing the author to tell the tale as a stream of consciousness -- which is not necessarily dependable. Thus, the surprise ending.

Fair warning: this tale may be somewhat brutal in its factual representation of events in wartime, which is almost definitely Ambrose Bierce's point in the telling. The "glory of war" is not very glorious.

Rabbit Trails

Some of the possible teaching moments in this short story include:

* The art of the twist ending. (The teacher's notes address this, as well as the study guide, with a list of additional examples of twist endings that could be introduced.)

* The stream of consciousness style of narration that, if it wasn't invented by Bierce, was certainly perfected in this story.

* The fun and frustration of the unreliable narrator.

* The reality of war: what is the Church's stand on the morality of war? Was the Civil War justifiable, based on the teachings of the Church?

* What should one's last thoughts, ideally, be when faced with imminent death? Why? What can we do to assure that our minds naturally turn in the right direction when we find ourselves in danger of death?

Printables

The simple text can be found here.

The text with teacher's notes can be found here.

Short biography of Ambrose Bierce and supplemental teachers notes, here.

Printable Study Guide, here.