“Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine.”
“As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!”
-- Excerpts from the An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
I. Reading Material
You can read the story here: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Duration: ~10 minutes
Source: An Occurence At Owl Bridge
II. Why Recommend This Material?
American Literature says "Ambrose Bierce's most famous story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890) is a masterfully crafted story that everyone should read". I doubted it at first, but after reading the writeup, I was somehow amazed. The writer structured the story very well and he was able to vividly illustrate the events that happened through writing. I am sure that every bookworm will enjoy this read, so watch out for those metaphors. Read the story not just once, but a million times, and you will see the beauty of this writeup. No wonder that this is widely used reading material in a lot of group discussions about Literature.
III. Though Provoking Questions
Ambrose Bierce was one of the only major author to see combat during the Civil War. He served in the Ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers. What evidence can you provide that "he knows what he is talking about" in his telling of the story? Do you detect any bias in his writing, does his favor the Union over the Confederates, or is he seemingly impartial?
How does Bierce's methodic writing style of providing detailed descriptions in a quiet, slow, suspenseful manner affect the reader? Provide examples (like how he describes the rifles in "support" position, or the sound of his own watch ticking).
Describe Bierce's literary technique using foreshadowing and its effect of fully engaging his reader.
Explain the metaphor that "Death is a dignitary" in the first paragraph.
What examples of military etiquette or rules of conduct are described in the story? Why are these important?
What do the bridge and the fast-moving water below represent? Explain the symbolic meaning of the loose boards and "unsteady footing."
Explain what Farquhar's wife represents? Why does he reject what she represents in his reckless mission to suppress Union forces? Abraham Lincoln passed the Lieber Code in 1863 for military conduct
Lincoln's Lieber Code signed 1863. Do we know whether Farquhar actually burned the bridge? Though we are told the Union scout planted the idea in Farquhar's mind to burn the bridge and then must have reported Farquar's betrayal which resulted in his sentence to be hanged, how do we know he actually committed the crime and deserves to be hanged?Describe the transcendental experience of Farquhar willing the noose to give way and envisioning his escape into the arms of his wife and safety, then the "white light" rather than the reality of his corpse's broken bones of death.
Tell the story using the same sequence of events, but from the Union Captain's point of view.
Describe the symbolism of the "pendulum" (first paragraph of section III) and how it relates to time, the hanging, his emotions.
The Federal troops were required to comply with the Liber Code, instructions for armies in the field, imposed by President Lincoln in 1863. Discuss the soldiers' conduct described in the story. Did they follow the letter of the Lieber Code?
You can select at least 3 items from above or make an essay using the guidelines below.
Essay Question #1: Research the term "Copperhead" (used to describe a Northern Democrat who opposed fighting in the Civil War and demanded immediate peace). The modern equivalent is called "conscientious objector." Did Farquhar's actions serve the Confederates in the same way, more, or less, than had he enlisted and fought as a soldier? Does Bierce offer any clues as to why Farquhar didn't serve as a soldier?
Source: American Literature - Study Guide
IV. Invites
I invite @harmony, @fatelrou, @jepu to this challenge.
To know more about how to contribute please refer to this guidelines.
I can earn DBREAD tokens if you join, and you can earn too if the 3 people you invite joined the challenge.
Invite 3 people to join the challenge, and once they submit their challenge entries you will receive 30 DBREAD tokens plus a 100% post reward.
Source Media
V. Guidelines for LightRead GameMasters
All submissions will be subject to curation, winning entries will receive 100 DBREAD tokens. We will be selecting at least 2 entries a week, depending on the need and the quality of the contributions. We may be selecting more, as long as there are good contributions, we will just put them on queue.
- Reading Materials First and the major requirement of course is to provide a reading material. As long as the material is a short read and not too heavy, we can use this to our Lightreads Challenge. The materials could be short stories, a poem, news articles, blog posts, any reading material as long as it fits the criteria. And it is very important to properly cite the respective authors and the sources for the materials.
- Why recommend this material?
- Thought Provoking Questions (at least 3)
- Invite at least 3 people to join the challenge.
- Use the hashtags #bookworm #lightreads #gamemasters
- Title must start with "BookWorm LightReads GameMaster: [Challenge Title]"
- Paste post link at our Discord Channel #lightreads-gamemaster
For any questions or what have you, please ping me on discord @shoganaii#8033.
Looking forward to more challenges!
Thanks everyone,
Kaizen
P.S. This is a GameMaster submission.
Supposedly, this is to be pooled from the community, but since there are still no submissions.
I submitted my own, and we will use this for our next lightread challenge.
You can start reading and prepping for the write-up, but will officially open the submissions by tomorrow.