Owl Creek Bridge vs. A Madonna of the Trenches
             I chose to compare and contrast An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce to A Madonna of the Trenches by Rudyard Kipling. I chose to compare these two stories because they both stirred up the same emotion in me when I read them. In both cases I felt myself strongly supporting the dying man, and wishing his success in his endeavor. It was interesting, but also somewhat expected, to note that in both stories, the hero (I'll call him a hero, rather than a victim) focused on something very dear to himself, at the hour of his death. Bierce's story is filled with vivid imagery and clear descriptions, while Kipling's tale takes a lot more concentration to get the gist of the story.
             In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, Bierce presents a very tranquil and pastoral backdrop for his story of a cold and brutal execution of a civilian during the Civil War. The doomed man is an unlikely target for military execution. He is about thirty-five years old and is a well-to-do gentleman farmer from Alabama. He was set up by a Federal scout to interfere with Federal railroad repairs, and is now facing the justice of his enemy. The story appeals to the senses. It is easy to visualize the scene on the bridge, and imagine how Peyton Farquhar felt standing there awaiting his hanging. As the minutes count down, his senses become overly acute, and time slows down and becomes suspended. The sound of his watch ticking is not recognized at first, and is thought to be a very loud, metallic, invasively persistent distraction. The dreadful realization that time was running out for him, caused Farquhar to enter his own hallucination or time warp, and fantasize about his escape. As he enters his fantasy, his first sensation was of sharp pain and the impending suffocation as he imagines the sensation of torment and pain as his
             body begins to swing from the rope. He imagines
             ...