Journal #1: Ambrose Bierce

Mikaila Garfinkel
English 48
1/07/09
Jouranl #1: Ambrose Bierce

"Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners-two private soldiers in the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff."






"An Occurrence at Owl Creek" by Ambrose Bierce takes place in northern Alabama, right at the end of the Civil War when the South had lost. Bierce, while consistently changing the style of narration, tells the story of the Confederate execution of Peyton Farquhar, a 35 year old planter, who to most would appear to be quite normal, despite the solid piece of rope knotted around his neck. The above quote depicts the scene of the hanging, where soldiers disturbingly appear unfazed by the actions about to take place. The only people surrounding Peyton are soldiers, no family or civilians are present. The soldiers not participating in the execution act as spectators watching a dull theater production, unmoved by an all too familiar scene. While at first the reader is not given any information about the crime supposedly committed, we are left with the impression that it is not as dire as the punishment soon to be entailed.


The quote I chose stood out to me from the very beginning, mostly because of the phrase "civil life". True, the war in which this story focuses on is "The Civil War", but it is hard to imagine a life during this time, where interfering with railroad tracks is reason enough to be hanged, to be anything but a civil one. I found it very interesting that Bierce chose the position of Deputy Sheriff to include in this passage, and figured that there was probably some motive in choosing this position. When I learned of "The Devil's Dictionary", I decided to skim through some of the words, and see if I come across any that were in the story. Sure enough, Sheriff was in there, and is defined as "In America the chief executive office of a country, whose most characteristic duties, in some of the Western and Southern States, are the catching and hanging of rogues". A rogue is usually an outlaw or scoundrel, so his definition of sheriff coincided with that of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek". Another reason this quote stuck with me, is because when the narrator describes Peyton, he is not described as a scoundrel. We eventually learn that he is being executed for attempting to steal drift wood, an action that nowadays would harldy meet the qualifications for a rogue. The quote I selected I think emphasizes how much turmoil was occuring during the time, especially in the South since they had just lost the war. We always hear about how great it is that the North won, not that I am disagreeing, but we never hear about how the South lost. While many blacks were gaining freedom, many Southerners were losing employees and therefor money. The idea that a patron would risk their life for free wood just shows how many issues were still present and being created, even though the fighting was over.