Lit. 212 class assign. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Ambrose Bierce's literary masterpiece is themed during the Civil War period. The execution of a civilian entraped spy is the focus for the narrative's conflict. I've read the piece in a previous English or literature class and am still not sure what the narrator point was. The details are explicite within the short-story, which captures my imagination well. The first time I read the story, I was totally surprised with the outcome of the conflict. I really thought that he had escaped from the reality of the execution. However, the end of the story proclaims the final doom of the middle-aged planter.

What surprised me about the thoughts of the condemned man, was that instead of thinking about going into eternity he was thinking about his wife and family. According to history, most Southern planters were very religious. When facing certain death I thought that he would be thinking more about God and his own personal life, as far as, what would happen to him after death claimed his body.

The escape was so masterfully worded by the author that I initially really believed it had happened. Upon reading it again, however, I began analyzing the work. I, at first thought that Peyton, which means aristocrat, was having an out of body experience, as some who have testified of the experience have discribed as similar to Peyton's, but I decided against that theory because the soldiers on the bridge and on the bank of the river began shooting at him. People who claim to have left their bodies, claim that nobody can see them even though they try to talk to the people in their surroundings. Then I surmised that maybe he had a vision or maybe the extreme fear of the event drove him into hallucinating the whole escape.
"
I disliked the ending of the story because of the author's description of the man as appearing kindly. Farquhor, according to "The Dictionary of First Names" by Alfred J. Kolatch means; "friendly man." I grew fond of the Peyton Farquhor character and wanted him to escape.