American Literature / Unit 11 AML 1019 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Ambrose Bierce and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
Captions available
The idea
A Confederate sympathizer stands on a railway bridge with a noose around his neck, the rope breaks, and he escapes to his own gate, where the story reveals the escape was one instant of imagination. Bierce writes war without consolation.
In practice
An escape that never happened.
Where people slip
The shift in time is the story's whole device.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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