“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” – is the undisputed masterpiece of Ambrose Bierce. On the bridge, a man stands with his hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck. This is Peyton Farquhar, a planter and a slave owner, an ardent supporter of the Southerners case. He is being executed for trying to set fire to the Northerners’ bridge. Suddenly, an idea of escape comes to his head. The execution is performed, but the rope breaks and the protagonist falls into the water. An exciting escape scene follows, and he runs home to his wife. There, he throws himself in her arms … and suddenly there is a terrible blow, a thunder and silence. We see that the body of the hero is swinging under the rafters of the bridge. The entire story of a romantic escape was only a second suicide fantasy.

Peyton Farquhar is a man of destiny. He is a civil war hero with an insatiable desire to serve the cause of the South. When he spies on Northerners and decides to burn the bridge, he is too emotional to assess the situation soberly. His act is quite predictable that is why he is later caught and sentenced to death.

Bierce adds somewhat heavy and quite showy symbolism to his story. The bridge, which serves as a scaffold, can be interpreted as a symbol of the human life path and, at the same time, the connection between reality and afterlife. This is the road of destiny; it marks the transition to another world, where now, according to the plan, Peyton Farquhar goes.

Another symbol is the ticking clock, which symbolizes the irrevocable execution of fate. Peyton Farquhar hears the sound of his clock before being executed; this sound annoys and confuses him, it seems very far away, yet too close at the same time. The clock strikes at the regular intervals and represents the death-knell. Payton feels that his last minutes are ticking away, and every strike can be the last one, so the pauses become unbearable.

The dynamics of the plot does not allow the reader to take a break from this book. Psychology and atmosphere are handled professionally. Descriptions, as always with Bierce, are extremely accurate and believable. The ending is unexpected, just as in many other Bierce’s stories, but in this one is it also shocking and unpredictable.