An Odyssey in Owl Creek

The guard stands watch as the condemned man dangles from the noose wound around his neck. He closes his eyes to shut out the world around him. The gallows, the soldiers – they are no longer his concern. The man thinks only of his wife. But as the sergeant steps aside, the man’s thoughts turn to desperate delusions of grandeur. In his mind he escapes the clutches of the hangman’s noose. Our anti-hero’s hands are bound and he is struggling to free himself as he floats downstream. He is fired upon, and survives. A canon ball is no match for him, and neither is whirl pool for that matter. Safe and sound on shore the man suffers an “uncanny revelation” (910). His home land is no longer welcoming, but is a wild forest that smolders with rubies and glows with emeralds. At last this wayfarer finds himself before his home. There his wife stands bathed in an iridescent, white light, and he is struck by her blinding beauty. Then, as he takes a step to embrace this loving and peaceful vision, the man suffocates and dies. Why would these sudden moments of inexplicable valor be important? Because for a soldier it is far better to die in the midst of triumph over their enemy, than it is to die a mislead fool.
In the short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce, Peyton Farquhar is the man described above. And though he was unable to join the “gallant service of the Confederate Army” (904), he was “a civilian who was at heart a solider” (904). It was by no accident that he found himself at the bridge commandeered by Union soldiers. Peyton was set-up. He was fed a line by a Yankee spy, and his need to serve his fellow countrymen got the better of him. Taking his erroneous information with him, Peyton left for the bridge intending to set it on fire. One may or may not agree with his choice of sides, and one may disagree with his cause. Yes, he was a slave owner fighting for his right to continue to rob a people of their civil rights, but first and foremost he was a man fighting for his home and his family. And after all, “all is fair in love and war” (906).
In love and war there is no greater tale than Homer’s Odyssey. Set in Ancient Greece just after the Trojan War, Odysseus is the star of the epic poem. He is the Achaean soldier who developed the Trojan Horse that brought about the defeat of Troy. Aside from his compatriot Achilles, he is one of the greatest heroes in literary history. And like Peyton, his journey begins with his desire to return home. Odysseus’s voyage also takes him to such places as the Underworld, and when Peyton arrives on the shore his passage through the dark prism of the forest could very well pose as his trek through Hell. While The Odyssey spans decades, and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge lasts only seconds, the message is the same – Hope and courage will guide you home.
Under the threat of constant adversity both heroes could have given up and succumbed to despair, but neither relinquished their hold on the faith that they would once again be reunited with their loved ones. Penelope, Odysseus’s virtuous woman, is the beacon of hope driving him back to his native soil. Peyton’s nameless Southern Belle is the equivalent of Penelope, as explained in these quotes from the text, “His wife looking fresh, cool, and sweet […] an attitude of matchless grace and dignity” (911). She is a constant in his thoughts, “He closed his eyes in order to fix his thoughts upon his wife and children” (904). Her radiant and pure presence navigates Peyton toward his final destination. Peyton’s wife is also his triumph. Despite the gallows, noose around his neck, and the stoic sentinels keeping watch over him – Peyton’s eternal optimism doesn’t waver, because he has the love of woman, and that is something worth fighting for.
But unlike Odysseus’s Odyssey, Peyton’s battle and triumph were never a reality. His journey took place in the seconds before his death, and occurred only in his mind. Part III begins with the statement, “[...] he lost consciousness and was one already dead” (907). In those unconscious moments before his demise – Peyton’s mind, refusing to accept its fate, conjures an elaborate ruse to overshadow the actual event. And what makes this relevant is that throughout history, both figuratively and literally, it is the death of the warrior that fills one with pride. Peyton could have died as the fool that fell unknowingly into a Yankee trap, but in his last minutes he is redeemed with an epic mirage that offered him a happy ending. The ugliness of his hanging is shattered “with a smile of ineffable joy” (911), and that is all anyone can ask for – The honorable death of a triumphant warrior.