"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" can be considered a work of realism for three reasons. The first is Bierce's utilization of his own military background giving this story a sense of authenticity. Bierce also conveys his cynicism after leading the reader to believe otherwise. Finally, this story provides social critique of the south during the Civil War.

Bierce goes to great lengths to describe the opening sequence in terms of its military arrangement. He provides vivid images of troop formations and soldier stances like "a single company of infantry in line, at 'parade rest' the butts of the rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock." (Bierce 269). He also takes the time to describe exactly how fortified the Owl Creek Bridge is. He shows his military experience by describing a road that stretches out of site and assuming that "Doubtless there was an outpost farther along." (Bierce 269). The procedures of a military execution were explained thoroughly including the code of conduct: "In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference." (Bierce 269).

Literature: Volume 2. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York: W. W Norton, 1998. 268-275.

"Bitter Bierce" (Bierce 268) early in his life for his cynicism. This is not evident in this story until the end. The third and final part begins with a sequence of miraculous occurrences allowing Peyton Farquhar to escape from his hanging. The description of these events leads the reader to believe that Bierce is a Romantic author rather than a realist. The rope breaks dropping him into the creek. He then uses his "superhuman strength" (Bierce 272) to remove the rope from around his neck. Peyton is then blessed with augmented senses seeing the veins on leaves in the forest and hearing gnats and dragonfly wings in the distance. He then sees the eye of a marksmen on the bridge through the scope on the rifle. Amazingly, this marksman misses what should be an easy target and allows Farquhar to swim farther downstream. Peyton then manages to avoid a barrage of bullets, cannon fire, and finally grapeshot and is only wounded by one bullet. In contrast to the first part, the scenery is now described as a dream world of "strange roseate light", trees that look like "giant garden plants", and "great golden stars" (Bierce 274). He describes the arrangement of the trees as having "definite order" and the stars are in order of "secret and malign significance" (Bierce 274). This suggests what Peyton is seeing is contrived rather than real. The author also gives more direct hints to what happens in actuality. In the first part Farquhar imagines how he would escape while he is waiting to be hung which coincidentally is how it happens. In the end, his final thought is of his wif

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