Job #3 - Literature Connections - Compare & Contrast

In comparing the style of Irving (Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and Bierce (An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge), there are noticeable differences.  They both wrote with the writing technique that was popular during their time.  Realism became popular during the civil war because people wanted to read things they could relate to.  The Gothic/Romantic style on the other hand developed in the late 1700s that focused on the supernatural and things that are hard to explain.  Yes, some things in An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge are hard to explain, but it is much more realistic than the ghosts and the other strange happenings in Legend of a Sleepy Hallow.  I personally enjoy the realism style much better.  I would rather read about things that happen in everyday life that I can relate to than the unexplainable Gothic/Romantic style.

Job #2 - Thinking Question

"The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing.  The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer who in turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge.  The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite reached a fourth.  This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant.  At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between the two ties."

I had to read this section a couple times before I completely understood what was going on.  From what I collected, the captain was holding the weight of Peyton first, and then he switched out with the sergeant.  The captain is ranked higher up the military ladder than the sergeant.  Therefore, the captain was in charge of the execution.  As we can see, the captain was holding Peyton's weight at one point, but then switched out with the sergeant.  Why did he switch out with the sergeant if he was the one in charge of the execution? Couldn’t he have stepped off himself instead of telling someone else to step off for him?  Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but I was wondering if he switched off because of military rules and regulations or because of more personal reasons. Did he not want to be the one directly responsible for Peyton's death?  Was he fighting inwardly over the prospect of executing someone?  Maybe he had none of these thoughts.  His thoughts could have just been thoughts of preserving his country and fighting for his own cause.  So my main question is, why did he have the sergeant perform the death giving action and not do it himself?

Job #1 - Line Illuminator

“As Peyton Fahrquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead.  From this state he was awakened -- ages later, it seemed to him – by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation.” (Chapter 3)

This passage speaks of when the rope broke and Peyton fell into the water.  He supposedly went on to escape death under gunfire.  We found out later that these events never actually happened and it was only an illusion.

"As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon -- then all is darkness and silence!" (Chapter 3)

Did Peyton imagine everything just before he fell?  Did he imagine it as he was falling?  Did it all come to him before he fell into his coma?  Did he dream it in his unconsciousness?

The beginning and end overlap with two different stories so it is hard to distinguish what exactly happened.  I personally think he dreamt it all up in his unconsciousness and dies at the end.  I am interested in hearing your theories on what exactly happened.

Our Voyage

Ready to embark on this voyage comrades?