Structure

The plot and structure of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce can be summarized as follows: a Southern partisan is tricked by an undercover Union soldier to burn a bridge that is apparently seized by Unionists. The man is caught by Union soldiers, and he is about to be hanged, as this is the punishment for everyone who interferes with the railroad near the bridge.

Title

The title of the short story is very ambiguous, as it reveals nothing about what the story is going to be about. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” only reveals that the main setting of the story is a bridge near the place called Owl Creek, but nothing else about the theme of the story or its characters. What is more, if a curious reader researches the placing of Owl Creek, then it would be revealed that the place is in the state of Tennessee. This is even more ambiguous, as the story takes places in Alabama.

Beginning

The story begins in the middle of events – or in media res. The readers simply get to know that a man is about to be hanged and that some military men supervise the execution:

“A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his ...