StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
I so doing, the paper will address the function of “time” in the essay and mention the metaphors and themes inherent in the piece. The paper will also contain quotes to illustrate…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.6% of users find it useful
Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process"

Narration & and the Writing Process Lecturer This paper seeks to detail a response to “An Occurrence at Owl Creek” by Ambrose Bierce. I so doing, the paper will address the function of “time” in the essay and mention the metaphors and themes inherent in the piece. The paper will also contain quotes to illustrate how time works in the essay by Bierce. The function of time is shown by the theme of fluid nature of time. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a devised commentary on the fluid nature of time.

The structure of the story moves from the present to the past and to what is referred to as the imagined present. This reflects this fluidity and the tension existing among competing time notions. The second part disrupts what initially appears to be a continuous flow of the implementation taking place in the present moment. Farquhar closes his eyes at the end of the bridge, “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The mans hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord”.

This was a signal of his slipping into his own reality version, this was not burdened by any accountability to laws of time. Farquhar drifts into a timeless realm as more time elapses and the ticking of his watch slows between the strokes. Bierce compares Farquhar to a “vast pendulum,” immaterial and spinning wildly out of control, when he imagines himself sliding into the water. “The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless”. In this particular moment, Farquhar glides into a transitional space that is not life or death but an incorporeal realization in a world with its own rules.

The age of Farquhar is also a sense of function of time, “The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age”. Summarily, time alters and slows in order to accommodate a safe return vision of Farquhar to his family in the window of time between Farquhar’s actual death and officer stepping off the plank. Farquhar cannot escape reality in spite of his manipulation of time. Death ultimately claims Farquhar even if he lives a few days or moments longer. His attempts to bend time for his own benefit are for zilch.

A remarkable aspect of Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is his realistic rendering of alternate conception of time to Farquhar suggesting that the nature of time is subjective to some extent. The piece of writing has shown the usage of other various themes and metaphors. The color gray is dominant throughout the story. This shows the vague lines that divide friends from foes and the clouded reality sense at the end of the story. Gray color also indicates the Confederacy, the cause of Farquhar sacrificing himself foolishly.

Gray color also shows a distortion of truth, the soldier who was a scout from the north disguised himself into a Confederate soldier. Gray is also the color of Farquhar’s eyes and sentinel at the bridge. Driftwood is another metaphor representing Farquhar himself and his unattainable freedom as he imagines his escape in the water. Driftwood first interrupts him from thinking about his children and wife. He later imagines floating in the water as if he was driftwood. The Owl Creek Bridge itself symbolizes a connection and transition sympathizers and forces of confederation destroyed presumably the bridge in their attempts to deter the North from advancing to the territory of their enemy.

ReferencesAmbrose Bierce. (2004). An Occurrence At Owl Bridge. http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Ambrose_Bierce/An_Occurrence_At_Owl_Creek_Bridge/index.html

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process Essay - 2”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1615891-review-narration-description-and-the-writing-process
(Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process Essay - 2)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1615891-review-narration-description-and-the-writing-process.
“Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process Essay - 2”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1615891-review-narration-description-and-the-writing-process.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Review: Narration & Description, and the Writing Process

Review of The Boat by Nam Le

The story regards a writer named Nam grappling with whether to use the father's account on surviving My Lai as well as North Vietnamese prison camps in a creative writing assignment.... This paper "review of “The Boat” by Nam Le" focuses on the fact that "The boat" is a collection of short stories by Nam Le, which emotionally resonate, excite and which are strongly written; moreover, it represents the awesome range of talent and extraordinary depth of feeling....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

The Narrative Voices Between The Works of Lucine Finch and Gladys Marie Fry

The narration of Gladys Marie Fry in "A Sermon in Patchwork: New Light on Harriet Powers" is more of the third-person objective.... In this narration she just simply described the characters of Harriet Powers.... The narration was purely descriptive which therefore falls under the “third-person objective” voice....
2 Pages (500 words) Book Report/Review

Monuments to Our Better Nature by Michael Byers

nbsp;This paper focuses on the description and imagery used by Byers in his book in order to create diversification in the mind of the readers.... This paperwork focuses on the description and imagery used by Michael Byers in his book “Monuments to Our Better Nature,” in order to create diversification in the mind of the readers.... In his writing, Michael Byers uses many monuments to depict the dramatic struggle of the American people in their fight for freedom....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Alex Virulas Robocam

he story can be improved by editing the last paragraph, which does not measure up to the writing in the earlier part of the story and has grammatical errors.... Inserting necessary commas and making the sentences shorter will add more clarity to the narration.... In the paper “Alex Virula's Robocam” the author discusses Alex Virula's story....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

Analysis of Narrative Structure of Frankenstein 1818 version

Shelley in the romantic and extremely captivating novel, “Frankenstein” uses different narrators to tell the story of how Victor, captivated by ancient scientists and the desire of natural science decides to create a human being and a race that would regard him as their… Leaving Geneva for England in order to study, Victor's overwhelming interest in natural history leads him to a teacher of natural history, who tells him that studying natural history was nothing but a waste of time....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible

In the paper “The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible” the author compares war stories, which are one of the most interesting genres in literature.... The Things They Carried and The Red Convertible are one of the most analyzed, studied, and debated in this genre.... hellip; The author states that Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is a compendium of different stories narrating the author's memories of the Vietnam War as a soldier....
7 Pages (1750 words) Book Report/Review

Analysis of Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 by Richard Goldbeer

This review will begin by briefly describing the contents of the book, they will move on to the successes and failures of the work.... The author examines "Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692" book by Richard Goldbeer in which the writer describes the events surrounding the lesser known witch hunt of 1692 Stamford....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

Seahenge: An Archaeological Conundrum by C. Watson

The English Heritage agreed to fund the excavation process.... The English Heritage had to fund the whole process as it was envisaged to be expensive.... The third chapter focuses on centers on the controversies that surrounded the excavation process the naming of the artifact.... From Watson's writing, it is clear that the artifact had experienced massive erosion that was caused by the abrasive sea tides and the salty waters....
7 Pages (1750 words) Book Report/Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us