In the midst of the civil war in Alabama, Peyton Farquhar, a wealthy farmer, awaits death on the Owl Creek Bridge. With a noose around his neck, Union soldiers watch as the gentleman collects his thoughts in his final moments before being hanged for accidentally revealing his allegiance to the Confederacy to a Union spy. While reading this story for the first time, the reader is led to believe that Peyton has miraculously escaped and takes pleasure in reading about his long and exhausting journey home to his lovely wife and children. Only in the last sentences do we discover that his entire escape was a dream, occurring in the milliseconds between the moment he is forced to get off the bridge and the moment the noose tightens fatally around his neck. This vivid passage quoted below from “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce can be found early in the story. In this paragraph, Peyton becomes irritated and anxious due to an unfamiliar and irritating sound. This passage contributes more to the entire piece than any other paragraph as it establishes mood and tone, character development, and adds to the overall theme of the work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This paragraph successfully helps develop the tone and atmosphere of the entire story through descriptive images and settings. Yet they present serious differences. For example, “The water, made golden by the early sun, the fog threatening beneath the banks some distance down the stream,” (1-2) paints a vivid picture in the reader's mind. This is an excellent example of the tone of the story. The “golden” water (2) hints at a bright morning sky while the “early sun” (2) and “ominous fog” (2) produce a sleepy, peaceful tone. Yet this beautiful scene of a calm stream is quickly and harshly contrasted with Peyton's feeling of anxiety and “apprehension” (9). He hears a “maddening” sound (10) that “cuts his ear like the tip of a knife” (11-12). This illustrative description of the “harsh, distant, metallic” (5) sound creates an uneasy mood in the reader. One begins to feel uncomfortable reading this section of the text as if one were on the bridge over Owl Creek itself. These sentences not only demonstrate a stark contrast, but they set the mood and tone for the rest of the story. The tone of this short piece of literature contrasts greatly with the protagonist's inner thoughts. While the atmosphere gives readers more insight into how Peyton feels by making them feel the same way, it's the contrast with the calm, collected tone that really draws attention to what she's thinking. By writing in such a relaxed tone yet so powerfully describing the agonizing sound of Peyton's watch, the author develops a deep and complex character in just a few sentences. In his physical appearance, the protagonist appears collected and even calm in the face of death. At the beginning of the story he is even described as a gentleman. This parallels the tone of the story. Yet, as Bierce describes the sound of his watch ticking, what it sounds like, "like the strike of a blacksmith's hammer on the anvil" (6), the reader comes to realize that Peyton is not only terrified of death, but driven to madness by the anxiety of waiting for him. The reader realizes that Peyton is human and is just as afraid of mortality as the rest of us. This description of the protagonist's character goes much deeper than just his physical appearance, so to speak, and his psyche. This is a great moment of character development”. 289)