Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine
Please respond to the follow questions (using complete sentences) when you have finished reading
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Drop your responses into the HW
Dropbox in Gaggle.
Recall
1. Describe the man on the railroad bridge and explain his situation. What is about
to happen to him? How do you know?
2. What does the gray-clad soldier tell Farquhar and his wife when he stops by their
home?
3. What happens to Farquhar at the end of the story?
Analyze
4. How are Farquhar's experiences after his escape realistic? How are they
unrealistic?
Evaluate
5. How effectively has the author depicted Farquhar's psychological trauma?
Justify your decision from the text.
Interpret
1. How did Peyton Farquhar get into this predicament? What was his crime
and who is punishing him?
2. What details suggest that Farquhar might attempt to destroy the railroad bridge?
3. How much real time probably elapses between our introduction to Farquhar on
the railroad bridge and his hanging? How much time elapses during his escape?
Synthesize
4. Naturalism was a literary movement of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century that portrayed the lives of characters as being determined,
or caused, by outside events or forces. In what way is Farquhar's experience
naturalistic?
Flashback. Fill in the chart below, listing the story's events in the order that
you read about them on the right. On the left, list the events in chronological
order. How does the flashback in this story advance the plot? What
necessary information does the flashback provide?
Chronological Order
1. Farquhar sits outside on the grounds
Reading Order
1. A man stands on a railroad bridge with a
of his home with his wife.
2.
3.
4.
noose around his neck.
2.
3.
4.
Elements of Time and Space
How does Ambrose Bierce manipulate the elements of time and space?