For this essay you will be responding to Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Using the story, develop a classification/division essay that focuses on either Peyton Farquhar, our main character, or Bierce’s twist ending.
What are we classifying? In the case of Peyton, how do you feel about him? Is he a tragic hero, an unfortunate man who simply got in over his head and had to pay the steepest of prices for his folly? Or, is Peyton a bit of buffoon? Do you think that perhaps, he overestimates himself and what he’s capable of? Just what does he mean when he claims to be “a student of hanging” anyway?
If you want to tackle the twist, then you would classify as an effective, surprising twist, or did you find it rather predictable? Did Bierce do something in the story that gave you a hint ad to how he planned to end it? Be sure to write an attention grabbing introduction with the thesis placed at the end of it.
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